NOAH KAGAN - How to Build a Million-Dollar Business
Episode Stats
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Summary
Noah Kagan is a serial entrepreneur who has a track record of creating multiple million dollar organizations. And he s here to peel back the curtain and show us how in his newest book, The Million Dollar Weekend, the Surprisingly Simple Way to Launch a Seven-Figure Business in 48 Hours.
Transcript
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So many men aspire to build a thriving, rewarding business. They're dissatisfied with their work
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and know there's something more to both their personal and professional lives,
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but very few men know how to do it. My guest today, Noah Kagan is a man who does as he has
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a track record of creating multiple million dollar organizations. And he's here to peel back the
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curtain and show us how in his newest book, the million dollar weekend, the surprisingly simple
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way to launch a seven figure business in 48 hours. Today, we talk about the need to believe
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you can create a great life and doing the work to have it. Why your future results start with
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today's actions. The often overlooked reason, the slow and steady pace is best for building
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businesses. The power of rejection, why offering your product or service is so much more than a
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sale. It's a duty and much more. You're a man of action. You live life to the fullest, embrace your
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fears and boldly charge your own path. When life knocks you down, you get back up one more time.
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Every time you are not easily deterred, defeated, rugged, resilient, strong. This is your life.
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This is who you are. This is who you will become at the end of the day. And after all is said and
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done, you can call yourself a man. Gentlemen, what is going on today? My name is Brian Mickler.
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I'm your host and the founder of the Order of Man podcast and movement. Welcome here today and
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welcome back. If you're brand new to the podcast, I want to let you know you're in the right place.
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If you're trying to improve as a man, if you're trying to develop the skillset and tools you need
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to thrive as a husband, father, business owner, community leader, we've got all the tools,
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all the resources, and of course, some really powerful conversations with incredible men who
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are successful in a lot of different areas, including my guest today, Noah Kagan. Now,
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before I get into our conversation about building a million dollar business, I just want to mention
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my good friends and the show sponsors for this podcast over at Montana knife company.com.
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These guys are building and making incredible knives, all 100% made in America. I just got their
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you're going to save some money on your knives. When you do again, Montana knife company.com use the
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code order of man at checkout. Now guys, let me introduce you to my guest today. His name is Noah
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Kagan. He's been on before he's a serial entrepreneur. And I think one of the most creative
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people I know, uh, he was the 30th employee to work at Facebook, the fourth to work at mint.com.
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And he's since gone on to create multiple seven figure businesses in the tech and web space,
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including app sumo, which offers e-commerce and, uh, even marketing tools that I've personally used to
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build this business. He is now the author of the million dollar weekend, the surprisingly simple
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way to launch a seven figure business in 48 hours. Enjoy this one guys.
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Noah, what's up, man? Great to see you again. Glad to have you back on the podcast.
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Yeah. I don't, I don't know how I'm going to follow up a conversation with you, uh, after Tim
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Ferris this, uh, this week though, I gotta be honest.
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That, you know, it's interesting. I went on the show. I've known Tim 20 years. Uh,
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the dude's a legend. I mean, he's been at it for a very long time, which I don't think people talk
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about enough, like staking or sticking with things for a long time. And the show I went on,
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which is also, I spent like a month preparing this show. I spent two months, but Tim show on
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list, but I spent them. I thought you were going to say five minutes. I didn't think you're going to
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say two months, two months, two, two months. But this morning, this morning I was getting some nuts
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and I was like, damn, you know, the things in life that we prepare for, you know, tend to sometimes
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work out better. Yeah. Sometimes. And sometimes it's good to wing it and just fly by the seat of
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your pants. And like, I even think about that with your book. One of the chapters is I think it's like
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just effing start. And it's like, I think that's one of the things a lot of guys do is they,
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well, I was thinking about it actually yesterday. I'll say it this way. I think there's this rise of
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like, like phony or, or unnecessarily. I think it's unnecessary intellect. I'll say it that way.
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You know, you see these guys and I won't name names, but you see these guys and, you know,
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they spend four hours pouring over what kind of food you should eat. I'm like, man, we all know,
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right. Do I need to, do I need the research behind it? Do I need research to tell me I should sleep and
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I shouldn't eat processed food. And, uh, it might be good to, you know, go outside and get some sun,
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but I think we do that because we're trying to come up with an excuse for our lack of performance.
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I met Peter Thiel at a dinner. I paid $3,500. Cause I was like, oh my God, this guy is like a
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legend. You know, it'd be cool to have dinner with them. The dude had 10 year old, like new balances,
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like Mervyn's, if you guys know Mervyn's, but like, let's say Kmart socks.
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I'm from Sears, man. Yeah. Yeah. Sears, Sears, you know, I used to work at Macy's. So I know
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about the stuff and then, you know, an old phone, old phone, disheveled. And he's talking about,
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he has his assistant call hotels and throw away the food in the mini bars so that he won't eat it.
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And you kind of realize, wow, you know, there's all these articles, perfect morning routine. It's
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like, this guy's a billionaire, like, I don't know, probably worth 10, 20 billion. And he's human
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and his morning routine is probably like him, you know, scrolling on, I don't know the truth or
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some, I don't know. And it's, there's no right way to do it. But I think people want to avoid the
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hard thing, which a lot of times also the easy thing. And there's no necessarily only one way
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that it can happen, but it's a lot of avoidance is what goes down with people.
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Well, I think it's avoidance, but then I think it's this, we fool ourselves into thinking we're
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moving the needle by acquiring all this unnecessary information. Yeah. Your YouTube intro video is
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funny. I didn't get through the entire thing, but it's like, I wake up at 2.59 AM, one minute before
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Goggins. And then I have this like Himalayan, you know, tea or whatever. And that's the thing we focus
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on. It's like, why don't you, instead of waking up at 3 AM, like, why don't you wake up
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half an hour earlier and read the scriptures or go for a walk or, you know, but again, it's,
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it's this, this unnecessary intellectualism that we're chasing because we just don't want to do
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the work. Yeah. I noticed that. I think I would, I guess I've been labeling it extremism.
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There's like a few things I'm just observing. There's like extremism where it's like, you have
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to run a hundred miles and you have to like, if you're not making a billion, you're failing. I'm like,
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really, you know, even a million is pretty good. Right. And, uh, you know, so there's like this
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extremism mentality, which really all it's doing. And I think your show is a great example. It's
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like, okay, want to be a man, right? If I do an extreme thing, I'm a man. It's like, are you?
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I've definitely done some extreme things that I didn't feel manly.
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And then it's realizing like, okay, well, what can we believe that our lives can actually become?
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I think there's some, there's some disconnect to that. And I think a lot of these people that
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mean you probably are, I don't know, I get a little frustrated with and maybe jealous and also just
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like, I don't know why people listen to it, but they, they, they create this gap of belief where
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it's like, you're here and you know, I'm up here and you're never going to get here. And guess what?
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If you'd listen to me, you will. Right. And I'm like, well, what has this person done?
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I don't even, what? Really? What? No, I don't know. No one knows why we listen to this person.
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And then what I've realized for myself, and this is, you know, it's taken 20 years. It's taken life
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is more people can realize, and this is for myself too, believing that there can be a great life for
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us. And there's no, there's no guru there. There's no extremism. It's believing that there's a life for
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us that we can actually, that's crazy. Like my life today is, I can't believe it. But if you asked me
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even a few years ago, I would have never, I didn't think I deserved it. I don't think I could
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have it. I don't think it was going to really exist. It was like a unicorn. And then putting
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in the work. And when people say that shit, I'm always like, what work? What is the work?
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But the work is like, maybe for me, not partying as much. Maybe for me, if I want to have eventually
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maybe some kind of crazy, amazing family, not hooking up. Maybe for me, it's, well, hey,
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what work professionally do you want to do, but you're really avoiding. That's work because it's
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not the, it's not always fun, but it's also, it's also the most rewarding. And that will,
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what I've found for myself and everyone else is like, we can leave them, live these amazing lives.
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And it's not some crazy gap that a guru is trying to implement for a lot of us.
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Yeah. I think what ends up happening is, and I felt this, I felt this really early on when I did
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start of the podcast is I saw like that gap that you're talking about and it didn't empower me.
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It disempowered me. It helped me to not help. It made me feel inferior.
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Yes. That's what they do. That's what they do. Yeah. And that's, you know,
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I think it's a lot like a drug. Now we become addicted to the thing. And then I realized I was
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pursuing all of these interests and activities and waking up early and burning myself out and
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burning myself up. And I realized, man, I'm just, I'm not happy. And then I, you know,
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I turned to substance abuse and, you know, my marriage eroded because not, I'm not, I'm,
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I'm trying not to shift responsibility here, but like part of the reason, part of the reasoning was
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because I wasn't satisfied and happy. And I felt like there was always something else I needed to
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be pursuing. We got an awkward pause here. It's, it's, I don't know if you're just listening or
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Like, no, I'm just listening. I think a lot of people can, can relate to that.
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Yeah. Yeah. I've noticed that to be true. A lot of people have resonated with the reality of,
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of our own inadequacies, you know, and as, as people like you and I share that,
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I think it's more powerful for the people who are listening.
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Yeah. I think what I've noticed, you know, through this book million dollar weekend,
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I'm doing a book tour. I've been working on my own shit for a long time. I think most people
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meet me and they're like, yeah, you're really not that much better than me.
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Yeah. And I'm always like, yeah, no shit, dude. I, but I'm doing it right. That's the only
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difference. You know, I've done it and I've done it and I've done it. And I'm willing to kind of
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go do the work, really put myself into the places where I kind of want to have money one day. All
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right. Well, what are you doing about it? What are you doing today about it? What are you doing
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right now about it? And I was willing, and I think everyone can and is able to be willing to do
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that. I never wanted to get fired. I never wanted to have anyone control my livelihood. And
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I think the reality, all these situations is every person can do their own hero's journey.
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That's what's great. I know we're here. I'm talking, I came on like, Hey, let me talk about
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my book, make money about, but it's really a hero's journey that each of us has available to us.
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And I think there's definitely, there's men's support groups and therapy and all these things
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that are great. But what I've noticed for myself, it's what's the hard, hard thing or hardest
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things that I'm avoiding. Yeah. And it's like, fuck, I don't want to do those. Let's just do the
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fun stuff. And it's like, okay, well, fine. Just, it's not going to get better. And it might
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get better momentarily. But I do feel lately where, you know, my girlfriend's pregnant,
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which has been a blessing. It's unreal. And I was like, God, I can't believe I can get
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someone pregnant. Someone will let me impregnate them. And, but it, you know, the belief that like,
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wow, that could happen. And then how am I being the best person or version of myself, a perversion
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I'm proud of for myself, regardless of, you know, views or subs or whatever it is,
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and then be able to show up in that relationship, man. It's definitely something that everyone else
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can do. And that, that's part of, you know, what's these hard things that we're avoiding
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and then maybe leaning into them and seeing what happens with our lives.
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What do you think some of the hangups are? Cause I don't know that I'd meet too many men. And
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obviously this might be a little bit of a biased group of people I'm referring to because they're
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listening to the podcast and tuning into self-development, right? So clearly they're
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interested in self-development, but I don't, I don't meet too many people who aren't interested
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in something, some better version of their life, better relationship, better business,
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more money in the bank account, better body. What do you think are some of the biggest hangups?
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You know, even if you want to talk specifically from, from a, uh, either an entrepreneurial standpoint
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or a career standpoint, or doing something that guys are passionate about versus their dead end job,
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they feel miserable in. Yeah. You know, yeah. The book million dollar weekend. I think what I'm
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noticing from people is about confidence. And this is probably the biggest, besides having to believe
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it, you have to believe that maybe there could be some optimism in this world. And another great
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book is called learned optimism. And I love that where it's like, yeah, it can get better. I think
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what they don't realize is that they can actually make that change a lot easier and they can make
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that change today. Hmm. They can actually do it right. Fucking now. I don't know if I can swear
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right. Freaking now the PG, I think I already swore. I mean, yeah, you know, my mom, my girlfriend was
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like, just really, it doesn't, it's not a good look. And I was like, thank you. You're right.
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Um, but realizing that, you know, future results start with today's actions. And so what's the thing
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you can do today? And I think what happens though, is people set these like crazy things like,
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all right, I want to be healthy. I'm going to go do 10 miles. It's like, okay, that's going to be hard
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to like, why don't you just go for a walk around the block today? Or if you want to start a business
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right now, could you just ask a friend to do something for them for free? What do you mean?
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No, that's, that's too easy. Yeah, I know. I know. That's the thing. That is the thing. It doesn't
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have to be some big, scary thing, but it could be some small micro action. Hey, you want to go on a
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date with someone today? Maybe I want a nicer outfit. Go to Goodwill. If you don't have any money,
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maybe get a haircut, maybe stop hooking up with girls. If you really want to actually get a
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family. And I think you really, you start really like maybe update your online dating profile or
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your app profile. One, like change some words, change your photo, ask a girl for her opinion
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on that. And I think when people realize the power of now, like, holy shit, what can I actually do
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right now? Like the power now where the book where it doesn't tell you what to do, you know,
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the actual now, this moment where you're listening to the show, realizing on your phone while
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you're driving, well, not while you're driving, but while you're walking, commuting,
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thinking, you don't have to think about it anymore. You can actually do it. And I think
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that that power brings confidence. That power brings self-worth. And, you know, I have this,
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I had this therapist and I will say, I've been quoting him a lot and he's like, the only way
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in is through. And I just remember always avoiding that. I think all of us can resonate. Like the thing
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we gave up on too soon, you know, real, like you with your marriage. Like I'm curious to hear more
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about that story. And the only one in is through where it's like, dude, we're working on it,
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but this is, this is not it. Maybe the way through is, is to move on. That's a fucking
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hard decision, but that's facing the hard thing and really facing it. And so I think people
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recognizing they can actually do smaller, more actionable things right now is really how they
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can start building that confidence. It's avoiding maybe some of the fear that is not as scary when
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you face it. Yeah. It's, it's interesting. It doesn't take a whole lot. I'm, I'm, I'm part of
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this Facebook group in Southern Utah, which is where I live. And you know, a lot of people jump
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on there and complain about how horrible drivers are in the area and what restaurants are good and
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what restaurants are bad and all this kind of nonsense where they're gossiping about businesses
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and people. But there occasionally I see somebody who will jump on there and say, Hey, I just started a,
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like a home cleaning business and I've got room for five people this week. And they get tons of
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responses like, cool. I'll do it. Or somebody's like, Hey, I'm a amateur photographer. Like if
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your kid's looking for senior pictures or looking for sports pictures, here's a little bit of my work,
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like hit me up. Like, dang, that finally, like somebody's actually using this, taking just a
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little bit initiative. And then you never know what something like that is going to turn into,
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but it just takes that initiative and put yourself out there in a very small way. Like you're talking
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about. That was such a great, those are great examples. I think people don't realize that
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big businesses start with one customers and they start as just kind of like, well, no, that's not,
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I can't start that way. It's like, yes, I can. It could be a text. It could be a social media post.
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And you know, what I've, I've learned from myself is that I've, I found that business has been the
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best way I've learned about who I can become. And I've definitely been some shitty versions.
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I said, we all, you know, yelling at people, bullying. I was called a bully. And I was like me.
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Yeah, you're bullying. Really? Wow. That's interesting. And doing these small things can
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lead up to creating lives. It's not just, I think the money is really cool. It's very nice to have
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a lot of money, but it's also very nice to like yourself. And I think business is a good way to
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feel really good about yourself, whether you have a day job or not. And I love that these people
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kind of in silly ways, like, yeah, I'm posting on social media, get a few people.
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And that's how it can start. And I'm always, I always admire anyone who's at least willing to try.
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Who knows how it's going to work, but at least you're going to learn. You might fail. And I
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think that's something I've noticed in my book and in my own business journey, which is like,
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how many people are willing to fail and then go again? Right? Like, you know, you with marriage,
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right? Like it's scary to, you know, have a breakup and then go back at it. Like that's,
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that's what you have to do. Like I'm a pilot. And the first thing they teach you is when you have
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an emergency landing, which I've had two, which is fucking terrifying. Right. And a little,
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yeah, for sure. Oh, very terrifying. I had some, that was traumatic. Uh, first thing to tell you
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is once you have a, a light, an emergency landing, you have to get back, right, right back up.
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Hmm. Right. And there's something about it, which is like, oh, okay. I can, I can do it. I can face
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it. Well, let me learn from it and get better. Maybe I need to get someone with me. I had my buddy
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Joe the next time. So it was a little, a little, uh, felt more comfortable.
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Yeah, man. I, I, you know, what's interesting is you're saying that I, I, I see that. And I feel
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that when I see people at the gym who are out of shape and overweight and, you know, three years
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ago, two, three years ago, I might've been very judgmental and harshly criticized those people.
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Not, not vocally, but you know, in my mind and, and I go to the gym now and I see people who are
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overweight and out of shape. I'm like, damn, good for you. Yeah. That's awesome. Cause how many people
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do I not see who are still in bed, who are eating on the couch, who are hung over from last night
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and they're not here, but you are, I hope they sustain it. That's what I want for those people.
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But I, there's some admiration there where there wasn't before. And I think part of that comes from
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realizing that we all have to start somewhere. And I know I've started somewhere and I had to start
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over a lot of times in my life too. Yeah. Good for you to write. I was thinking about that. Someone
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rated my book four stars. It's not even out yet. So I don't know how they rated it, how they got it.
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And I was like, fuck you, dude. What do you mean? They had a cat picture as their profile. And I was like,
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yeah. Okay. I get it. I know. And, um, I was like, it's not even out. I don't know how you
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could rate four stars that like, I've spent four years and like 20 years doing business to put this
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all together for people. But what was interesting was that it made me appreciate anyone creating.
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Yeah. I was like, wow. How many times have I criticized someone at least trying,
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but at least they're putting something out there. At least maybe it's a restaurant. Maybe it's
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house cleaning. Like you're saying, maybe it's photography and you know, for all of ourselves,
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like, Oh shit. Okay. Let me do something. And then how do I, and I think your other comment,
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which is really interesting that I don't think is recognized enough in success, especially for
00:19:37.720
myself and is how do you find things that you can sustain with? And we all can't, everyone has
00:19:42.000
discipline. Everyone has sustainability in them. Like they, everyone's still breathing. Like if you're
00:19:45.860
still breathing, you've sustained something. Yeah. Right. But I think people think like, I'm not a
00:19:50.740
disciplined person. It's like, well, you've had discipline to eat every day. That's pretty good.
00:19:54.900
You know, you haven't given up on that. And so it's like, how do you, how do you recognize it
00:19:59.420
maybe in business specifically, but also in life? Like you start walking each day and like,
00:20:03.640
let me just try to walk once a week for this year, 52 times. Let me try 30 minutes a weekend just to
00:20:09.140
see if I can help one person, which is what businesses are. And over 52 weeks after a year,
00:20:13.280
you'll actually be like, Holy shit, maybe this is working. But sustaining these things, I think is,
00:20:17.880
besides just starting, you know, the sticking with it, but how to not give up too soon,
00:20:22.000
which we all have done, uh, is I definitely think the underlying kind of key to success in many
00:20:27.420
things. How do you know when to give up though? Cause I think there does come a point in time
00:20:32.220
where it's like, I'm banging my head against the wall unnecessarily here. Maybe I ought to give up
00:20:37.160
or maybe I ought to pivot and reevaluate the course of action. I think a lot of times we know when the
00:20:44.820
voice in our head is talking to us, right? When we're asking ourselves that question I use for
00:20:50.740
content and business, I use the law of 100 is what I found to be like just a really simple framework,
00:20:55.280
which is do it a hundred times and then quit. Most, I think someone was telling me this recently,
00:21:01.060
you know, you're one of the few people that have stuck with the podcast. Most people never do three
00:21:05.040
episodes. No one gets to 20 and anyone who's over 20, you're in the top 1% of podcasts. So do a
00:21:11.400
hundred and then quit things. And so that helps you at least decide at that point, whether I want to
00:21:15.580
quit or not. You know, I think another thing that people can understand better and I'll do another
00:21:20.060
business example afterwards, but it's, it's relationships. Like, how did you know it was
00:21:24.880
time to maybe end it? And you, you made me think about, I was engaged and I don't know if I felt,
00:21:32.200
I, you know, one of the things that I teach in the book is about how do you get what you want,
00:21:35.120
not get what you get. But you have to feel that you deserve some of these things. And I think I was
00:21:39.800
just, I got this girl and I was like, all right, well, I guess I'm getting what I'm getting.
00:21:42.500
And if I felt better about myself through, you know, thinking about what I want and how I want
00:21:47.220
to feel, then what do I really want? I have to, I have to ask for it and I have to get it. And it
00:21:51.740
wasn't her, but I spent fuck five years, man, three years in a, just like, I'm sure both ways toxic.
00:21:57.360
And then two years where I was like back and forth bullshit until one day I was like,
00:22:02.100
is this what you want to do for the next 40 years? Like, no, I was like, I don't want 40 more years
00:22:07.600
of this. And so I made the hard decision, which is the thing I'm kind of talking about throughout this,
00:22:12.040
this chat, which is like, what's the hard thing we're avoiding, maybe leaning into that.
00:22:16.020
And then now, you know, two took, you know, another two years. I found someone where I'm
00:22:19.740
like, oh my God, thank God. I had some optimism and I did the work, which was hard. Now in business,
00:22:25.900
I think the other thing that people can consider, how many kids do I got? Two, three,
00:22:32.280
Jeez, bro. How do you have time for anything? How do you even have time for the show?
00:22:36.460
Oh, they're out in the, they're out in the living room right now, hanging out. So we'll,
00:22:40.560
we'll spend, they know, uh, we, we've got the boundaries and things in place. And then when
00:22:44.440
I'm done, I'll play and spend a little time with them and then, uh, we'll, we'll get on with our
00:22:47.780
day. So it's, it takes some more effort. That's for sure.
00:22:51.800
Respect. I mean, I'm out of time my first and I'm, you know, I'm just excited to be an entrepreneur
00:22:56.240
because one, I can have a lot more time to feel like to be around how I want to be around to
00:23:00.500
potentially, if we need to spend money on things, it's a lot easier. But I would say when business,
00:23:04.300
you're a great example where one, don't quit your day job. I always found having day jobs sucked.
00:23:10.160
It's like, I hate you people. I didn't hate all the people, but I hate a lot of them. I hated what
00:23:13.420
I worked on. I hated how much money I made. I hated that. Like I felt risky. Like my risk is staying
00:23:18.140
here, not actually doing something I could really want to do. And you don't have to quit your day
00:23:21.340
job. Use them as your investors. Right. And so coming back to you though, and now me as a father,
00:23:26.920
if I was getting started, you have weekends. That's why the book's million dollar weekend. You don't got a
00:23:30.920
lot of time. Like you probably have an hour or two each weekend to do something. And so
00:23:34.200
what I recommend for people is see in your business, say you're doing photography, like
00:23:38.220
your person, house cleaning, podcast, whatever you're excited about. See if you can get three
00:23:42.460
people to buy from you in a weekend. And you're like, just three? Yeah, just three. And guess
00:23:48.200
what? If they don't buy, whether you're doing lawn care, maybe you're building software, you can,
00:23:52.560
and you can pre-sell it. You can pre-sell the item. Hey, I'm doing lawn care. I'm doing photos.
00:23:57.900
I'm doing, what were the other ones you said? House cleaning.
00:24:01.860
House cleaning, cooking, shooting, jujitsu. I mean, you name it.
00:24:05.360
Anything. And it can be software. Everything in life is pre-sold. We just don't realize it.
00:24:09.860
Tesla. All these cars are pre-sold. Our plane tickets are pre-sold. Hotels are pre-sold. Events
00:24:14.740
are pre-sold. Concerts are pre-sold. Everything is pre-sold. So pre-sell it to see if there's people
00:24:20.000
that want it. And guess what? If no one wants it, holy shit, you didn't spend tons of time.
00:24:24.420
You're not out of anything. You're not out of anything, but you got a lot of learning
00:24:27.800
and you could find out then fine. They didn't like this. What else is going on in their lives?
00:24:33.180
Like I was looking through and then people say, well, no, I got no, I got no ideas.
00:24:36.920
I've got no business ideas. Okay. Let's just do everything for them, Ryan.
00:24:43.360
Here's a fun one. I did it yesterday because I was curious. I looked through my credit card bill
00:24:46.880
and I just saw what I spent money on. And it was really interesting. Actually,
00:24:51.280
I bought baby mama clothes. And again, your original question was, how do you know not
00:24:54.940
to quit too soon? If you don't get three customers in 48 hours, it's only going to get harder.
00:24:59.280
That period. It doesn't get easier. So, and we can talk about businesses later if you care for it. But
00:25:06.260
in terms of that specific thing, I have found that people know the idea of like make something people
00:25:12.940
want. I don't think you actually have to make something people want. You have to find what people
00:25:17.140
actually want. And how do you know is that they're excited to give you their money.
00:25:20.800
Like I did a lawn care business. I knocked door to door two weeks ago to see if I could actually
00:25:25.000
sell it. I could not get one person in my neighborhood to buy my lawn care. Not one.
00:25:30.220
You know, I dressed up, I printed a flyer. I don't even have a lawnmower to be clear.
00:25:34.140
But if I pre-sold it, I'd go rent a lawnmower or I'd ask a friend for a lawnmower.
00:25:38.080
Guess what? I couldn't do it. So I was like, great. I can't do that business or someone else can,
00:25:42.240
or maybe there's another way, but I only have 48 hours to make some shit happen. And so let me find
00:25:45.440
something else. And then I found something different that worked.
00:25:47.980
It's interesting because one thing I've, I've ran across, I've got a couple of different
00:25:51.420
scenarios. One is people will tell you they're excited, but until they pay you, they're not
00:25:55.560
really excited. Like you have to realize that. Like when I, early on in this business, I would,
00:26:00.660
I would come up with like a new hat design or a new shirt design. I'm like, Hey guys,
00:26:03.820
what if I came up with this? Would you buy it? And I had like a thousand people like, yeah,
00:26:07.200
yeah, yeah. I'm like, sweet. People love this. So I'd make, you know, 500 shirts and I'd have,
00:26:13.480
I'd sell three of them. I'm like, damn, what, what happened? So people go with their dollars,
00:26:18.780
not with their words. But the other thing that I thought was really interesting was,
00:26:24.560
and this goes to your point about pre-selling the very first event I ever promoted,
00:26:29.560
I had zero people sign up, not a single person. I'd put in a few thousand dollars for a deposit on a
00:26:35.980
place and not a single soul signed up. And I called the guy up and I'm like, Hey, look, I gotta,
00:26:41.540
I gotta cancel this event. Like nobody signed up. He's like, no one. I'm like, yeah, thank you.
00:26:45.960
Yes. No one. And, and, uh, he's like, Oh man, that sucks. Well, you're going to lose your deposit.
00:26:54.640
And I said, well, hold on, hold on, hold on. Like work with me here. What, what if,
00:26:58.780
what if I still did the event? I just bumped it out three or four months. And he's like,
00:27:03.480
yeah, I'll do that. I'll do that for you. He's like, it's a little more expensive because
00:27:06.340
that's peak season, but I'll take your deposit. I'll apply it towards your time then. And I went
00:27:11.440
back to the drawing board to your point to really learn what people want. And it wasn't that they
00:27:16.660
didn't want an event. It's that they didn't, I didn't do a good job marketing the event,
00:27:21.140
clearly articulating what the value proposition was. So I learned what that was. I did a little
00:27:26.040
research and we had 20 people, which is our max capacity at that time, 20 people sign up for the,
00:27:31.100
for the event. We call ourselves the terrible 20 still to this day. And I talked to a lot of these guys.
00:27:34.800
This was seven years ago. The point is, is just, I don't think just because people don't
00:27:40.320
necessarily sign up that you should take it as, Oh, it's not a good idea. Maybe you just did a bad
00:27:45.220
job communicating or delivering the idea. That what did you read million dollar weekend
00:27:50.640
seven years ago before I even wrote it? I did. Like you had it in your head.
00:27:54.440
In fact, most of the ideas you got from me, I think even subconsciously. So come on,
00:27:58.860
give some credit there. I, the book is dedicated to Ryan. Well, I think, you know,
00:28:04.340
most ideas are iterations on others and, and most businesses have been done in the past.
00:28:10.340
And so I love, you know, and I think one of the things that you, you said implicitly,
00:28:14.200
which is the important part was when someone says no to you, okay, tell me more. Like we have
00:28:19.300
at AppSumo.com, the software deal site, it's been around 15 years for entrepreneurs done. It's done
00:28:24.120
really well. I still run it to this day. We, we created a course. This book is came,
00:28:29.800
came from the course. And I'm like, look, we've got a million people on our audience a month.
00:28:35.460
Like I worked at Facebook. I worked at mint and I've started enough businesses. I'm going to put
00:28:40.200
out this course. People are just going to buy it like crazy. They're just going to like, just eat
00:28:43.820
it up. So we sent this email a hundred thousand people. No one buys it. Like, what do you mean?
00:28:48.920
No one buys it. Like this is, I thought it's a guaranteed. And then I just asked them, Hey,
00:28:54.440
how come, well, how come you're not by it? Well, the, the course was called how to make your first
00:28:57.780
dollar. And people are like, I don't want to make a buck. I want to get rich.
00:29:03.780
And then there's like all these other pieces like, Hey, I'm busy. How long is it going to take?
00:29:08.300
Is there going to be accountability? Oh, really? That's it. And then we updated the copy.
00:29:13.520
I had more people will go through the course with me personally. And then we sold it. And then
00:29:17.620
after a year of, you know, it did have a little sale. So it got some validation. But then after
00:29:22.320
a year, it was like, Holy shit, we sold a million dollars worth of it. But that was then going back
00:29:26.540
and understanding why it wasn't selling super well. And I've seen this again. Like I got to
00:29:30.320
give another example, which is this woman, Mackenzie. She had a job, you know, day job,
00:29:36.040
like most people here. She didn't, she doesn't have a family. I don't know if she has kids yet.
00:29:39.740
I'm not sure, but she's always dreamed of doing something herself. And if you've been fired,
00:29:43.600
I don't know if you've even fired. Uh, yes, I have been twice actually early,
00:29:48.360
early jobs. Most of my quit, but I have been fired from, from a couple Burger King. I was fired from
00:29:53.220
Burger King of all places. How'd you get fired from the King? Why the King fire you? Uh, it was,
00:29:58.980
it's a long story, but essentially, uh, I just didn't show up. I just didn't cover my, my shift
00:30:03.400
and say, it was like, you're out, you're out of here. I, that was kind of like me quitting at the
00:30:07.380
same time as them firing me. So it was kind of those things like you can't fire me. I quit. And,
00:30:12.380
you know, or, or I quit and they're like, you can't quit. Cause you're fired. It was one of
00:30:16.500
those situations. And what was the other job you got fired from? Uh, let's see what, um,
00:30:22.280
maybe it was just the one. Now that I say that it was from the King. All right,
00:30:25.540
dude, you got me inspired. I'm going to go work at McDonald's and try to get fired just to be like,
00:30:28.980
yeah, I've been fired by Donald's and now I'm a millionaire just for the story.
00:30:34.140
I mean, look to be, to be real, like on this is yours. You're very creative. Like just the fact
00:30:41.200
that you would think of that. And I don't, I don't doubt that's something you would actually do.
00:30:45.320
Cause I saw, I saw a video where you're, you're, you're interviewing all kinds of people. You
00:30:49.620
interviewed people on the plane first class, like asking them how they got rich. Like it's,
00:30:54.040
it's very creative. And I really admire that side of things. Cause you see it a little differently
00:30:59.320
than I do. And a lot of other people do. Yeah. I can talk about McKinsey. I was going to share.
00:31:05.000
I love this. No, no, no. My favorite restaurant in all probably the world, but really Austin,
00:31:09.520
Texas, where I live is a, this place called taco deli. And I have been trying to invest in there
00:31:15.500
or be a part of it since my first taco there was in 2000. What was my first taco there? Maybe it was
00:31:20.960
2006. And I'm like, his name is Roberto. I've had him on my show. I'm like, Roberto, I just want,
00:31:26.500
let me be a part of it. Something. And I even like, so one day I just went and like,
00:31:30.080
I picked up trash for a day. This is a few years ago. Nice. Like I'm already pretty rich at that
00:31:35.640
point, but I was like, I just love what they're doing. And it got me close to, I think what I
00:31:39.900
admired about him is his slow and steady pace. You know, he was like, I just make a great fucking
00:31:44.200
taco. It's a reasonable price. It's a little high now with some of the prices, but it's a really
00:31:48.660
great taco. And like, I'm not, and there's other companies, like there's a competitor, which I
00:31:52.380
wouldn't call him out. That's like, there's like hundreds of stores everywhere. And he's like,
00:31:55.660
no, I don't, I don't need to do that. That was like always impressive to me about who he was.
00:32:00.300
Like he made a great product and he went at his pace. And, uh, you know, another story just to
00:32:05.220
kind of add, we were talking earlier, this is Mackenzie who read million dollar weekend.
00:32:08.540
She had this day job, was okay with it, but always dreamed of never like wanting to be an
00:32:12.660
entrepreneur. And for me, I've gotten fired twice. I guess, you know, a lot of guys that start
00:32:15.800
throwing things are like, no one wants to hire us. And I also just didn't want someone deciding my
00:32:19.720
livelihood. I didn't want someone that like today, it's like, Hey, you're the, which is what
00:32:24.060
happened. They're like today, you're not going to have more money. And I think that plus how my parents
00:32:28.040
were, you know, treated me with money and such was like, I need to be responsible for myself.
00:32:32.600
So Mackenzie did the same thing you were talking about. I just got to share it as an example.
00:32:35.580
She wanted to start her own business, loves greeting cards, send an email out to her friends
00:32:38.920
and family. Hey, I'm going to do greeting cards. Here's a few examples. Anyone want to buy some?
00:32:43.700
And that business last year in 2023, her first year did $50,000.
00:32:50.080
Reading cards. I'm like creating cards. What a cool there. So, and you know, my, my, you know,
00:32:55.580
YouTube channel, I, one of the biggest takeaways I've had this whole, you know, I guess the past
00:32:59.520
three years of really doing it. There's so many ways of getting rich, so many ways of getting rich,
00:33:04.860
but the important parts is you have to start right today, right now in anything, but really in
00:33:09.920
business, you start today and then you have to ask. That's something that you see in my videos.
00:33:13.020
I ask people how they got rich and that's what business is. You ask someone to listen to your
00:33:16.580
show. You ask someone to come to your conference. You ask someone to be an employee. You ask someone
00:33:20.080
to be your wife. And that's a skill that we can all get better at. So why do you, why do you think
00:33:25.480
people are so afraid of that though? I mean, the way I look at it is, and maybe this has just been
00:33:30.780
ingrained into me. I've been in sales for a long time where it's, you know, if you don't ask,
00:33:33.900
you don't have to get the sale. If, if they say, no, you're not any worse off than you were before.
00:33:38.120
Like, I just, I guess I know what I want. And I realized that unless I'm willing to tell people
00:33:43.120
what I want, I'm, I'm never going to get it. I don't know if that's just ingrained into who I
00:33:48.000
am, if that was taught earlier, if that's something I learned along the way, but man,
00:33:50.800
so many people are so hesitant about it because they think they're going to die or something.
00:33:54.500
If they ask a woman on a date and she says, no. Yeah. And the fear is bigger in our mind than in
00:34:01.560
reality. The fear is bigger in our mind than reality that if I go up and ask her and she says,
00:34:06.460
no, like there's going to be some music that plays and the cameras come out and
00:34:09.780
everybody's looking at you, you got punked and they're all laughing at you.
00:34:13.740
It's like, no, I mean, so I go, I'm doing a bike trip across America and I'm doing in sections. So
00:34:19.720
when I'm traveling, I flew to Phoenix a few months ago to do Phoenix to Albuquerque and I
00:34:25.260
used a trash bag as my carry on luggage. Oh yeah. Yeah. And I'm like, and in my head,
00:34:31.760
I'm like, everyone in the airport is going to stare at me. Everyone's going to look at me and no one
00:34:36.060
gave two fucks. I'm like here in the trash bag, like trash, man, I'm going to try to ask you about
00:34:43.240
this. It's not like, no one, anyone. And people are like, dude, I'm having problems with my wife.
00:34:49.200
I'm trying to get to my flight. Who gives a fuck? That guy's a weirdo. Okay. I want to get food.
00:34:53.780
I need to go to Starbucks line. No one cares. And I think that's a great, valuable lesson. And
00:34:57.840
I think with asking Ryan, what I've noticed is that people don't realize it's a skill that you can
00:35:02.840
get better at. It's a skill. It's like anything, right? I grew up with professional, you know,
00:35:08.760
Jewish parents. They're professional askers or complainers, depending who you're talking to.
00:35:13.140
And they, they, they're still asking for everything. My mom got a hot chocolate.
00:35:17.760
She visited last weekend. Oh, the hot chocolate didn't taste good. Can I have a refund?
00:35:22.960
You know how many people would just take the coffee, the hot chocolate and be like,
00:35:25.460
I don't just taste good. I would never, I would never ask for a refund.
00:35:28.760
So, and you know, the famous thing that I'm known for is this coffee challenge,
00:35:33.020
which is you ask for 10% off when you buy coffee at Starbucks or wherever you buy coffee
00:35:36.840
or anything really. And people are like, why are you hurting the businesses? Why are you trying to
00:35:41.160
get discounts from people? And I'm like, I'm not, I don't care about the discount. I care about
00:35:45.480
rejection. Yes. I care about the failure. I care about you facing a fear of discomfort,
00:35:51.360
which is momentarily, very momentarily getting the rejection. Cause you say I want 10% off.
00:35:57.120
They're like, why? You're like, just cause you get rejected. And then you realize like,
00:36:01.020
holy shit, that's not so bad. And then you realize even more importantly,
00:36:04.040
wow, I can do more things. What else do I want? And again, you will get what you want
00:36:09.740
if you ask for it. No ask, no get. And you know, I, I, it's still scary for me to ask for things.
00:36:15.320
Like when I do these videos, I'm like, Oh man, do I want to ask someone? Or I, I read the book
00:36:21.720
myself, the one I wrote and I did it myself. And it's the video is coming out next week.
00:36:26.960
And I went to two coffee places in a taco place. I got rejected every time.
00:36:30.940
And you, as you get rejected, you realize it's like over time, it gets easier and easier and you
00:36:35.300
get better and better. And it's, you do it in a silly way. So when I went and knocked on doors in
00:36:39.680
my neighborhood, asking them to, if I can mow their lawn, when they said no, I was like, okay,
00:36:45.620
that's cool. It's not me. They're rejecting. They just don't need lawn care. They have
00:36:48.980
some guys that they like already. And then that'll lead you then to say like, what else
00:36:53.260
can I do that I want? Maybe it's a raise, maybe it's a job, maybe it's a wife, or maybe
00:36:57.540
it's your first customer. And I think it's a skill that is very undervalued in our society.
00:37:03.820
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for the uprising experience. It's on May 2nd through the 5th, 2024. You can register and learn more at
00:38:17.880
order of man.com slash uprising. That's order of man.com slash uprising. Do that right after the
00:38:25.440
show. Cause I want you to secure one of those spots for now. Let's get back to it with Noah.
00:38:30.500
Well, I think it's the same concept in psychology and I don't know the exact term, but, but the idea is
00:38:35.220
that if you're afraid of something, you expose yourself more frequently to it in controlled
00:38:39.280
environments. Right. And so that's the discount thing is, you know, the risk of rejection is so
00:38:43.760
low, but you'll probably get rejected in some of these places, but the, the, the consequence of
00:38:49.740
it is so low that it's almost insignificant. Uh, if they say no, it's like, okay, you buy the $6 coffee
00:38:55.200
and you know, that's it. But, um, that's the whole concept is that you just expose yourself to
00:39:01.560
whatever you fear the most enough. And then it becomes something that it's not this big, bad wolf
00:39:05.620
that you've made it out to be in your mind. Yeah. I mean, I did this video where I stood
00:39:09.680
outside a private airport for two days asking people if I can go on their private jets like
00:39:14.840
that, that, that's extreme. Yeah. I didn't encourage anyone to do that. But what's crazy
00:39:20.800
is that literally on the first day, within five minutes, someone said, sure, you can come on my
00:39:25.660
jet. And then when I went on his jet, I didn't know this guy. His name is, his name is James.
00:39:30.640
Then I went on his jet and I was like, where are you going? He's like, I'm going to Boston. I was
00:39:33.600
like, you can come with you. I said, sure. And then I got to interview him. That video got,
00:39:38.840
you know, I think 5 million views. And what's more interesting for everyone is I didn't have
00:39:43.060
some secret. I don't, you don't have to be tall to be successful in business. You don't have to
00:39:46.640
be good looking to be successful in business. You don't have to be anywhere in the world to be
00:39:49.680
successful in business. It's universal, which is really the only sport that's equal.
00:39:54.920
And the only difference that I did is I went out and started it, right? I went out to an airport
00:39:58.600
and I just asked someone. And because of that, I got to go to a private jet, which is,
00:40:01.700
if you ever looked at private jet flights, they're like that. I think that flight alone
00:40:07.120
That's just because I asked. Yeah. I've looked at, I wanted to go to Florida last,
00:40:10.340
was it in December to see my girlfriend's family. It's like $20,000 each way. I was like,
00:40:15.940
shit, I need to find someone, go to Florida and ask them.
00:40:19.460
There's a lot more stuff to paper it yourself. But all I, the only thing I did was I started,
00:40:23.600
which people can do today. And I asked, and then, yes, there are other steps that people need
00:40:28.060
to be mindful of. And I think you did a great job with your events. But the fear-
00:40:33.940
A hundred percent. You keep getting better and better. And the fear is never as scary as it
00:40:37.360
seems. And I like, I think you've said it really well. Like, if you do it in silly ways,
00:40:42.580
like, you know, the coffee challenge, people think about it and they're like, I don't know,
00:40:45.960
just commit before you commit right now. Next time I buy anything, I'm going to ask. And then you do it
00:40:51.260
and then text me. Well, no, no text. I don't want to give up my number. But at Noah Kagan,
00:40:54.480
like DM me, slide my DMs, Twitter, whatever. I'd love to hear how people respond. And I always ask
00:40:59.100
the same question. What'd you learn about yourself? What'd you learn about yourself? And they always
00:41:03.580
learn, wow, it was never as scary as I thought. And I'm so much better than I realized every single
00:41:07.860
time. Just for a stupid, silly coffee. That's cool. We do that occasionally in our group too.
00:41:13.180
Same concept is you can't ask for anything or buy anything without asking for a discount.
00:41:18.240
I love it. And it's what I found outside of learning about myself and these guys learn
00:41:23.180
about themselves is how often you'll just save money just by asking. Like, it's amazing. It's
00:41:28.540
like, oh, I didn't really think you'd say yes, but thank you. Like, it's pretty wild if you just go
00:41:34.280
ahead and assert yourself what you can get. I mean, I think the same can be true about business. The
00:41:38.120
same can be true about dating. You know, you see that beautiful woman, you ask her on a date and she's
00:41:41.620
like, yes. You're like, oh, wait, I didn't expect you to say that, but it happens. It's wild.
00:41:48.240
Yeah. You got me thinking the same exact thing. Right. Just like I remember there's definitely
00:41:51.920
been a few people where I was like, really? You said yes. Like I wasn't expecting. I wasn't
00:41:57.080
expecting. Yes. And, you know, I think people might, I don't know if they zone out, but you
00:42:02.620
really have to think about this is literally everything in life. You want to raise like a
00:42:06.520
woman at work. I don't want to say her name, but she sent me this message like, hey, we need
00:42:10.260
to talk. And I was like, oh, no, what do you want to talk about? And she's like, I want to
00:42:14.680
raise. And I was like, oh, yeah, tell me more. And she's like, and she put together
00:42:18.700
a three page document showing market rates, showing everything she's done, showing the
00:42:22.900
amount of money she's helped create for AppSumo.com and the business. And she's like, I think
00:42:27.400
this is what I'm worth. And I've created a lot of money for the business. I think, you
00:42:30.260
know, I deserve an increase around it. And I was like, hell yeah, you do. That was a great
00:42:34.280
ask. And this applies for a raise. This applies for applying for jobs. This applies for getting
00:42:38.580
a relationship. And it applies for starting a business, too.
00:42:41.380
I think one thing I've noticed as well is that, and I'm very sensitive to the way I'm
00:42:45.900
saying this. So I need to think this through a little bit and maybe we can discuss is most
00:42:50.580
people are afraid of confrontation. So if you're not going to ask for a raise, it's because you
00:42:54.820
don't want to be a raise or a discount or the woman on a date. It's because it's confronting,
00:42:59.660
right? It's not negative. It's just a confrontation. Well, if you're afraid, I can assure you the other
00:43:04.360
person's afraid as well. So if you go in and ask your boss, like, hey, I'd like a raise,
00:43:09.320
they don't want to confront either. And so a lot of the times they're just willing to say, yes,
00:43:13.200
just, hey, like, fine, whatever. Is that what it takes? Good. Because they want out of the
00:43:17.920
situation as well. And I'm not saying that we necessarily take advantage of, like exploit that
00:43:22.780
necessarily. But what I do want people to understand is that the person who takes initiative wins
00:43:29.580
because most people play the passive game of life. So if you're the one who takes initiative,
00:43:34.800
nine times out of 10, you get what you want because other people aren't willing to stand up
00:43:39.380
or say or even ask for what they want. I think the other thing I got to highlight with what you said
00:43:46.380
is that we assume that it's bad for the other person. Like I, Million Dollar Weekend, I know it
00:43:54.140
fucking works. I did it for 48 hours. I had this other guy, I flew him in. He lived in my guest house.
00:43:58.560
He did it for 48 hours. That was awkward. My girlfriend's like, who's this guy in our backyard
00:44:02.500
living with us? And when this woman came to me and asked for a raise, we think, oh,
00:44:11.860
am I bothering this person? Am I bugging? I was excited. Right. And then you start realizing,
00:44:17.200
like, we create the story of this other person. When I did this video as another example of asking
00:44:21.720
first class passengers what they do for a living, do you realize like how uncomfortable it is because
00:44:25.860
I'm going to sit next to you for eight hours after you said no to me? And I create a story.
00:44:30.640
This person's dressed super well. Oh, they're going to be so rude to me. They don't want me to
00:44:35.380
bother them. They're going to be annoyed. And I go up to him and say, hey, you know, I'm doing this
00:44:40.180
documentary for YouTube. I really like the way you're dressed. Like, I'm just curious, like,
00:44:44.480
how's first class passenger? How's it to sit up here? Do you mind if I film? Because I'm going to,
00:44:48.120
I want other people to learn about it. And then, yeah, what do you do for a living? And they're like,
00:44:51.300
oh, my God. Yeah, I'd love to inspire other people. What do you mean? In my head, you hate me.
00:44:58.900
You're annoyed by me. And that is the thing that we do when we're selling,
00:45:03.280
right, or asking. But really, it's just learning. And this rejection is not, and I think if you,
00:45:10.000
if the rejection is not such a scary thing, and the rejection might actually be a good thing,
00:45:13.760
like, oh, well, if I'm going to ask him, because I think it's not a bad thing,
00:45:16.720
maybe I'll learn something and maybe something good will happen. Or if anything,
00:45:19.740
it's a very brief moment of discomfort. Very, very brief. That fades. But the opportunity and
00:45:24.960
the upside of what you can get is really, really unlimited.
00:45:29.020
I think that plays in nicely to what you're saying about having some confidence. I thought
00:45:32.940
that about business. Because every once in a while, I'm sure you get this too. Guys are like,
00:45:36.180
oh, I can't believe you charge for this. Don't you care about people? Yeah. I don't understand how
00:45:43.340
those things are separate. I can care for people and for what I'm doing and believe my message is
00:45:49.260
powerful and get paid for it. Like, that doesn't compute for me. But I think that the important
00:45:56.100
thing to realize is have some confidence in yourself and know that if you're offering a
00:46:00.340
service, for example, that it's worth something. You know, it's valuable. If I didn't think it was
00:46:05.460
valuable, I wouldn't ask. But I ask for the sale. I ask for people to join our iron council. I ask for
00:46:11.800
Yes. Because I know that if they do it, it will serve them. And so their life will be better in
00:46:19.820
Yeah. If you're lacking confidence, help someone else. And so when I started this book, I'll even
00:46:25.600
say, you know, like I've worked, I helped with Facebook. I helped build mint.com. I've done so
00:46:30.880
many different businesses. A lot of them have failed, but a few like AppSumo.com. We did $76 million
00:46:36.620
Yeah. That's one of the early apps. I don't know if you knew that. That's one of the very
00:46:40.340
early apps I used when I started this in 2015. AppSumo? Oh, no. Sumo. I think Sumo Me. That was
00:46:46.420
another thing. That was a $6 million business. Sumo Me. That's what it was.
00:46:49.300
Yeah. We just sold that one for about $2 million last year. So it's a new owner. So that, which,
00:46:54.400
well, it was at $6 million at peak. So I've done that. TidyCal.com is our Calendly alternative.
00:47:00.360
That does about last year that did, I think, $1.1 million. Brand new product. So like,
00:47:05.180
I'm pretty good at this, but I was like, I don't know if I can put together a book to help others.
00:47:11.700
I'm, I'm insecure. I don't know if I can really do it. Right. And that's everyone. There's no,
00:47:17.700
anyone who's fucking full of shit, trying to pretend like they know everything. Like they
00:47:21.720
wake up and they take shits just like all of us. Like I have a nice, at least, you know,
00:47:25.360
I'm taking a shit on a nice toilet at home. I would say that I really love my toilet.
00:47:28.200
And, um, he did, you know, it's bidet style. Oh dude. It like hugs me in the morning. It's
00:47:34.300
like, I see, I see some of those toilets. I walk in, I'm like, ah, what do I do with it? I don't,
00:47:39.140
I don't know how to use that thing. If you ever visit Austin, I'd be honored for you to sit on my
00:47:44.320
throne. I'd love for it. I'll take you up on that. It's so, it's such a weird thing, but I'm like,
00:47:48.600
dude, no, no, use this other toilet. I'm going to check this out. Enjoy yourself.
00:47:51.580
I see some of these, it looked like R2D2 or something. I'm like, I don't know what to do
00:47:57.420
with that thing. I just need to use the bathroom. You just buckle in, dude, buckle and let it do its
00:48:02.040
job, dude. It's there for you. And then I will say being rich is cool. It's got a lot of perks
00:48:06.140
and it's, and again, I've got to say being rich is not exclusive. Like I grew up middle-class,
00:48:10.820
good two parents. I was lucky there. Grew up in Bay Area, lucky there. Had a lot of advantages for
00:48:15.000
sure. But I thought I was stuck in the middle-class lane and that's just not true. I think we keep
00:48:19.980
ourselves in the middle-class lane. So coming back on this, the million dollar weekend book,
00:48:23.960
yeah, I felt insecure, even though it's like, bro, you've done, and I'm, I'm running the business.
00:48:27.680
I'm not some guy that's like selling books to get rich. I don't get rich off this book. I'm already
00:48:30.880
rich. Like it doesn't do anything for me, but I felt insecure. Right. And you're like, well, if you're
00:48:35.400
not, if you don't know how to do it, then I don't know who would feel secure about it. And so what did
00:48:40.020
I do? I just helped the person. So for six months as I, after we had a beta team of, I think there's
00:48:45.640
1300 people on our beta team have gone from the book. And for six months, every weekend,
00:48:49.700
five people in me did the book and I saw them change their fucking lives. And I had a guy live
00:48:55.220
with me, which is, you know, he's got three kids, he's got a day job. And I was like, and we put out
00:49:00.460
a thing, say, Hey, someone who doesn't have a big social media following at all. I just found out
00:49:04.500
that he has a Twitter now. I was like, come live with me and let's do the book together. And I was
00:49:07.780
like, damn dude, this is really going to work. Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure you got five paying customers for
00:49:12.980
his golf trips business. His name is Jake. That's how it starts. And that's what built confidence
00:49:17.800
for myself. So I don't need, if it sells a lot, if it sells a little, I'm like, no, it works though.
00:49:21.840
And I think what your point is, is that when you find a problem, importantly, that people actually
00:49:26.780
want solved, it's not a sell. It's a duty. It's not a sell. And look, again, when you're selling
00:49:33.060
from no one wants, that's a sell because you have to convince them. But if it's like, Hey man, I know
00:49:37.840
you want more podcast listeners or Hey man, I know you're trying to get a relationship or Hey man,
00:49:41.160
you're trying to get a business started or whatever it is that you believe that there's a problem
00:49:44.500
someone has. And you think you can genuinely solve it. Like I might, my best friend, Adam
00:49:48.340
Gilbert, he's coming over tomorrow. He's flying in for a book party. He does health coaching,
00:49:54.220
mybodytutor.com. This guy dies for his belief. He'll die for it. And that, that always has been
00:50:01.280
impressive to me. He's like, I know what I do works. And he's done it for 16 years. And these,
00:50:06.200
these things, you find the thing that actually makes a difference for people and you just stick with it.
00:50:09.480
The thing that I'm, I'm hearing you say when it comes to confidence, because a lot of people will say,
00:50:14.040
Hey, I just, I need confidence in order to be, you know, in order to ask that one out,
00:50:18.020
I need to be confident in order to start that business. I need to be confident, but
00:50:20.760
you don't really have anything to be confident in. Sometimes, you know, if you've never started
00:50:24.960
a business, it's hard to be confident that you can start a business. And I, and I think what
00:50:29.400
you're suggesting, especially with writing this book is maybe it's not the confidence. Maybe it's
00:50:35.140
just some courage. It's just, you don't confidence is earned. Like you don't get to decide I'm
00:50:40.220
to be confident today. Like you have to earn that through trial and error and success, but courage,
00:50:44.400
you can just decide, right? Like I'm, I'm scared to ask for a discount, but I'm going to do it
00:50:49.820
anyways. I'm scared to ask that woman out, but I'm going to do it anyways. I'm scared to write
00:50:53.080
this book, but I'm going to do it anyways. And so it's not confidence. It's just courage. And
00:50:56.860
through that, the confidence is built. Did you read chapter seven? Did you write one?
00:51:01.480
You wrote chapter seven, a million dollar weekend.
00:51:03.040
I didn't read it. That was my idea. You stole my idea. I told you, dude, I got to give you the
00:51:09.620
royalties, but damn, that was so perfectly put. And I, you know, I did, you know, people have heard
00:51:14.440
of ayahuasca. I don't know if you've talked about on your show. I did years ago. I did a little bit.
00:51:18.200
And that's all these like, you know, puking, whiny, I don't know, hipster people. And it's also good
00:51:22.100
people too. And all this stuff, but I did it. And I think two things that really stuck out for me,
00:51:26.080
that whole experience, I've done it a few times and I was at a low point in life and I was trying
00:51:28.920
anything to avoid doing the hard things. And the two things that really stuck out for me is I ran
00:51:34.580
away from it. Actually, I did all the drugs and I started running away. I literally ran away. I ran
00:51:38.160
away from the retreat on the, in the road. It was a whole story. You can go to noakagan.com and see
00:51:43.720
my ayahuasca. I'm going to check this out for sure. Yeah. Read that article. It was the worst night
00:51:47.340
of my life. And, um, I ran away from it and blah, blah, blah. Anyways, I end up hours later coming back
00:51:54.580
into the ceremony room and I was really afraid that everyone was going to be mad at me because
00:51:59.860
I ran away. No one runs away, by the way. That's not, you stay and no one leaves even the room,
00:52:04.320
let alone I ran away. And he said that to me. He said, you know, you ran away is normal, right?
00:52:10.140
We're all afraid, but courage is being afraid and doing it anyways. And that was like such a powerful
00:52:14.680
moment to realize that I can do it too. We all can do it. And the second part with ayahuasca, yeah,
00:52:19.400
you do drugs and you, it's like a form of therapy. But my buddy, again, coming back to Adam Gilbert,
00:52:23.100
who I love, he's like, I don't know if you really like learn anything from this ayahuasca thing.
00:52:27.660
Adam doesn't do drugs. He doesn't even drink. All I eat, he just eats chicken and broccoli. That's
00:52:31.220
all he does. He probably looks great though. He does look great. Fit dads are impressive people.
00:52:38.560
That's what I do. Fit dads are impressive. Learn from fit dads. Easy to be fit when you're, when
00:52:43.480
you're single. And he said, you know, this whole ayahuasca thing, you know, I think what it really is
00:52:48.140
showing you, and I think he's right, was that it was a challenge that you could overcome.
00:52:51.260
And I think that's there for all of us, whether it's starting a business, maybe changing your
00:52:56.460
career, which we can all do if we don't like it, changing our health, changing our looks,
00:53:00.780
changing the relationships. And I definitely have, I've resonated with that message. Doesn't mean it's
00:53:05.700
easy, but it definitely the most rewarding and realizing that we also all can do it. And I loved
00:53:10.200
your point that confidence. Yeah. I think sometimes we see these people on YouTubes and so, oh, they're so
00:53:16.620
confident. I think they're also probably the most unhappy is what I think in a lot of ways I've been
00:53:21.880
there personally. So I can attest to it. Yeah, of course. Put on a front though. Tell me more.
00:53:28.960
It's, it's rough, man. You put on a front because you think people need you to show up a certain way
00:53:34.400
or, or even you said it earlier, a duty, I think is what you said. You have a duty or responsibility,
00:53:39.120
obligation to talk about Adam dying for his message and believing in it that much, you know,
00:53:42.800
you believe in it that much, you might be struggling and yet you still want to show up because you
00:53:46.380
believe in it that much, even though you're not personally in the best place you show up anyway.
00:53:53.820
So it's a challenge, man. It can be a challenge. Yeah. You got me reflecting where people are like,
00:53:59.740
no, you're so successful. And I'd only say in really for my own measurement and maybe in the past
00:54:05.380
year have I felt really successful for who I am. And that's, that's the best part of life is like
00:54:11.220
when we can reduce. And I don't think it's impossible to reduce all external validation,
00:54:14.980
but to really build up that internal validation, right? Build up that self-confidence and self-worth
00:54:20.380
from doing action that helps us recognize like, and doesn't mean we're always not having problems
00:54:24.940
or doesn't mean that we're not making mistakes, but not beating ourselves up over it and realizing
00:54:29.760
like, well, I'm doing it and I'm doing it and I'm doing it and I'm doing it and I'm doing it and I'm
00:54:33.700
doing it. So that's something that lately I'm like, even now, as I say it a lot, I'm like,
00:54:38.840
yeah, dude, you're doing pretty good, man. Not bad. Not bad. Dude. All right.
00:54:42.860
We all are. I mean, I think that's true for all of us. We're all doing better than we think too.
00:54:46.680
So don't, don't be too hard on yourselves out there. No, I know you have another meeting. I
00:54:50.500
want to be respectful of your time. Tell the guys where to connect with you. And then of course,
00:54:54.600
to pick up a copy of a million dollar weekend. We'd love to hear how to connect with that.
00:54:59.300
Yeah. Milliondollarweekend.com. We've got a bunch of tutorials and step-by-steps if you want to change
00:55:03.780
your life in a weekend. And then Noah Kagan everywhere. If people want to send me DMs,
00:55:07.900
I respond. We'll, we'll sync it all up, brother. I appreciate you. I, the thing I admire most about
00:55:13.400
you and I talked about this earlier is your creativity. I don't, I don't, I don't have
00:55:17.880
that muscle. I need to develop that a little bit more. And so I see things you're doing. I'm like,
00:55:21.380
man, he's got some balls. I need to do that. So I appreciate your work, especially early on with
00:55:26.280
me using your programs, businesses, apps that helped me in ways that you may not be aware of.
00:55:31.940
I appreciate you. I appreciate our friendship. Thanks, brother.
00:55:34.040
Thank you, man. All right, guys, there you go. My conversation with the one and only Noah
00:55:39.820
Kagan. I hope you enjoyed that one. I always love talking with Noah. He's been a friend. We always
00:55:44.160
have good conversations. It's like two guys getting together who've known each other for a long time
00:55:48.240
and just kind of shooting and brainstorming ideas to each other. And like I said, he's one of the most
00:55:54.760
creative, interesting people that I personally know. And I think you can probably attest to that
00:56:00.060
by just listening. And I would definitely encourage you to pick up a copy of his book,
00:56:04.780
the million dollar weekend, the surprisingly simple way to launch a seven figure business
00:56:08.640
in 48 hours. And I think if you apply what he's teaching, you're going to find yourself in a
00:56:14.440
much better spot. If you apply and implement everything that he teaches and you'll be able
00:56:19.360
to start your own businesses and the idea with the idea being to have a fulfilling, rewarding career,
00:56:25.240
career, which I know is what many of you want. So make sure you check out a copy of his book,
00:56:30.300
connect with him on Instagram and me as well. Check out Montana knife company. And then also
00:56:35.200
check out the uprising experience, which is May 2nd through the 5th, 2024. Again, we have seven spots
00:56:41.220
remaining. So I'd love to see you there. You can do that at order of man.com slash uprising
00:56:46.220
outside of that guys, just take a screenshot right now, real quick before this one ends and post it up
00:56:51.980
on Instagram, post it on Facebook, post it on Twitter, tag Noah, tag myself, let other people
00:56:57.320
know what you're listening to. Cause if you have information to share, they're going to be lifted
00:57:01.860
up. They're going to be helped. They're going to be served by having access to that information as
00:57:05.520
well. So please do that guys. You have your marching orders. We will be back tomorrow for our
00:57:10.340
ask me anything until then go out there, take action and become the man you are meant to be.
00:57:15.780
Thank you for listening to the order of man podcast. You're ready to take charge of your life
00:57:20.400
and be more of the man you were meant to be. We invite you to join the order at order of man.com.