197. Q&AF： Starting From Scratch, Taking Capital Investments & Becoming Truly Undeniable
Episode Stats
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Summary
DJ and I talk about how handy he is with the tools and tools he has in his garage. We also talk about why you shouldn t call a stranger to do your leaves. And we answer your questions. If you like the show, share it!
Transcript
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What is up guys, it's Andy Fursella and this is the show for the realest.
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Say goodbye to the lies, the fakeness, and delusions of modern society and welcome to
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Guys, today we have Q and AF and what that means is DJ is going to ask me three questions
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and I'm going to give you the AF answer on them, all right?
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But before we get into that, we do have a fee for the show and the fee is very simple.
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If you like the show, if it makes you laugh, if it taught you something, if it's something
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that changed your perspective, if it's of value, share the show, okay?
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I take pride and we as a team here take pride in growing this show organically through word
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of mouth, which means if we do a good job, you guys share it.
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And we've done very good on that relationship and I love doing it that way.
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As always, you can email your questions into askandy at andyfussella.com.
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So before, I got a question for you before we get started.
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So I saw you, uh, this weekend doing leaves again.
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So wasn't there a show that we put out within the last, I don't know, six weeks where I
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So DJ's got a house basically in my old neighborhood that I had with a million fucking trees on it.
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He's got all these huge mature trees and he's having his, uh, he's having a realization about,
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And so my friend Scott lives in my old house that used to be, uh, right over where his new house is.
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And so I see DJ on his Instagram, like fucking piles of leaves, four foot high and shit.
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And I text the screenshot of it over to Scott and I say, Hey Scott, go watch DJ story.
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And dude, we had this conversation and I was like, bro, I'm like, so did you, what'd you do with your leaves?
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And he's, he's out there doing his leaves and shit.
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And I'm like, bro, you still haven't figured out like that you're going to call someone.
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Like, what are you, what are you guys, you're going to, you're going to call someone to figure it out anyway.
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So why do you waste like three weeks of your life doing a little raking, a little raking, a little raking when you know you're going to call someone?
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Like, like, you know, first house, like I want to take care of it.
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Part of being smart is knowing when you're stupid.
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Like, bro, some of these jobs, they're just best left to the paid professionals.
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Get yourself a, you know, some battery operated power tools, go out in the garage, squeeze the trigger a couple of times.
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Like, you know, dude, that's an unwinnable battle in that part of St. Louis.
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And like, that's the thing, because like, I fucking hate them.
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Look, dude, we just spent the last two fucking years telling everybody what the fuck was going on in the world.
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And, you know, every day, DJ is like, man, if they would just listen to us, we wouldn't be in the shit.
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I got it done and I'm on the books for next year.
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And the problem is I fucking walked out the house this morning.
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So Ricky is going to take care of me next year.
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We're not afraid to pull out the receipts on this show.
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But there's something about taking pride in it.
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And they're thinking like, oh, listen to Andy Buster's Balls about the DJ wanted.
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And this neighborhood is an unwinnable neighborhood when it comes to leaves.
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There's, dude, there's hundreds of big mature trees everywhere.
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Sometimes you just got to know when to fold them.
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But it's funny, too, because my neighbor comes out.
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Which I take pride in that, because that's who I battle with.
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I'm going back up to the front, cleaning up some shit.
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And he's like, yeah, well, you got that big one there.
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It looks like it has probably another month or two before if he drops his last leaves.
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Motherfucker, get the fuck away from me right now.
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I just spent the last five hours fucking went through fucking three.
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The South says I need a bigger one, so it's possible.
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So we'll see how much you guys want to fucking bet next year.
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If you had to start everything over like right now.
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Would you pick a different field of business or would you stay in the health and fitness
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If I had to start over right now, do I know all the shit I know about this?
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Why would I fucking, why would I go want to learn something else I already know about?
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You know, you, when you know that, when you know that much about something inside and
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out, you'd, you'd be an idiot to go out there and try to fucking wreck your brain doing
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Your, your knowledge, you're, you're, you're going to develop.
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And like, dude, I built several successful companies in different areas.
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Um, but like when I think about what I would do differently, or if I would, I, I don't
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Like, I think like five years ago, I probably would have said what I just, what I was just
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But now I'm starting to understand, um, on a macro level, how the principles actually
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I see the thing is though, dude, is I like this line of work.
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Like we actually help people change their lives.
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You know, everything I do, everything I'm involved in helps people change.
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You know, this podcast helps people get better.
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Um, the speaking part of my business, RTA, those improved people, first form improves
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Like we go down the list and list all the different things, but they all make people
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Um, so we start talking about tequila, you know, it gets a little different, but it
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But I mean, the point is, is like, I enjoy that.
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Like, I don't know anywhere else in any other line of business where I think I would be as
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good because what I genuinely care about is the stories that we create.
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Like, so with like 75 hard, the reason I pour myself into 75 hard, the way I do is because
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So, you know, I don't think it's a, I, I don't, yeah, I don't think I would do something
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Like, cause there's just not that many places where you can get, uh, a piece of that feeling,
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But like, there's something about seeing someone, and this is what got me into this
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business, uh, permanently after we were in it for 10 years.
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And this is the decision I've told you guys before, you know, there's something about seeing
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someone who's a hundred pounds overweight, um, come back, you know, six, eight, 10 months
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later and not be a hundred pounds overweight and have tears in their eyes talking about how
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much better their life is, how much better their relationship is, the confidence that
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they now have, um, you know, and then seeing how it emotionally, uh, affects them, bro, you
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So, you know, for me to switch, I'd have to be in a scenario where I could get that sort
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of result, because honestly, that's where my biggest source of fulfillment comes from.
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You know, I've, I've had money for a while now and I have enough money to do whatever
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the fuck I want to do literally anytime I want to do it.
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So I do have my choice to do whatever the fuck I want to do.
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So that, I think that kind of speaks for itself.
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You know, I show up here every motherfucking day.
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I was here an hour after I got out of surgery, bro.
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So I probably wouldn't change because I do have a true passion for the results driven
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Because I've been, I've been the before picture, right?
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I've been there many times and I know how much better I feel and how much more improved
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my life is being the after and going through that process and how many people were affected
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And, and, uh, I'm incredibly grateful to be exactly where I'm at doing exactly what
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And, uh, so like if shit melted down and we had to start over, I think most people here
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would be down to do it again or, or down to build like if we, cause dude, the truth
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You know, we're a lot of people from the outside, look at what we got going on here and they
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But everybody here has the attitude of this, this is the beginning.
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Like they don't understand what our goals actually are.
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So most of the people that are here now, um, understand that we're at the beginning of
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We've been working 20 plus years just to get the financial resources and the opportunities
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and the relationships built and the knowledge built and the experience built to do the things
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So like we kind of are starting from scratch, you know?
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So that's, you know, that's the 10 minute answer.
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The second question ties into that a little bit.
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So, you know, you, you, you've talked about how, when you and Chris started, you guys didn't
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What are your thoughts on, you know, companies that are in the growing phase in the beginning phase
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is taking capital investments from other, other people in today's economy.
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Like, well, what are your thoughts on that now?
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Well, dude, look, you can always move faster when you take on capital and that's where the
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You can always move faster because you leverage other people's money.
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And the main reason we never did that was because honestly, I didn't feel skilled enough
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Now I know I am obviously, but I still don't now because I don't have to now.
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Now I just use my own money, you know, but, uh, you know, there's a lot of situations where
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practically it makes a lot of sense to have, like, if you're going to grow fast, bro, you're
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going to need money because you're going to need a scale.
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There's all kinds of things that come down the pipe where you've got to have capital that
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exceeds what your normal, you know, uh, working capital would be.
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Um, if you want to get there in a certain amount of time, if you don't want to get there in
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a certain amount of time, you know, and you're just in it, I prefer to do the shit my own
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And now, you know, here I am, uh, where I don't owe anybody anything.
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And so like, I'm in that place now where I can accelerate my own success by just investing
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Um, but I paid a price for that for the first 20 years.
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Like I probably could have got a lot faster, but here's the fucking thing that I want to
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say about this is that most people are not skilled enough to take money from other people.
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We, we, in this entrepreneur culture that we have right now, it's people are talking about
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how much money they raised instead of how much shit they sold.
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And here's the thing that you need to understand.
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Um, if you're going to borrow money, you better have the fucking skillset to be able to back
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Like, don't be trying to learn on someone else's money because that's going to get you out of
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So when I look back, if I'm giving my honest feedback, when I look back for my first 10
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years in business, bro, I was super bitter because no one would ever give us money.
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Like, it wasn't like I wasn't trying to get money.
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So, but now I look back and I'm like, fuck dude, that's a really good thing.
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And you would have done this and this and this, and you would have never even gotten to this
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place that I'm in now because the whole reason I've gotten here is because I had to push through
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So the reason my tools are sharp and the reason I know my shit and the reason I have skills
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when it comes to the game of entrepreneurship is because I had to develop them to survive.
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But the one thing I would say to most young entrepreneurs right now is that a, uh, it's about
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what you sell and about how many people buy from you more than once.
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It's not about, uh, you know, and then if you want to say one thing further, it's about
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Um, after the transaction, but like, dude, most people honestly, um, are not at a skill level
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where I would recommend them taking money, you know, people's instant gratification,
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uh, wants is always like, I want to get, you know, so if I could just get a million
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dollars, if I could just get 2 million bucks, I could do this and this and this, but really
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do what you would do is you would take that $2 million instead of investing it in real
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I promise you, you would try to like pull some marketing scam and do some entrepreneur
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You know, entrepreneur math is where you pull out your calculator and you start saying shit
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Oh dude, you know, all I got to do is sell 15 of those at this much price and this and
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And that shit just never, it never makes sense.
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So, you know, I, I think it's important to be financially educated and to understand when
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it's appropriate to take debt and when it's not appropriate to take debt.
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I think it's important to, uh, analyze your own wants and desires as to why you're doing
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Do you need to take the debt or are you impatient?
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Um, do you have a good reason for the debt or are you going to spend it on some bullshit?
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Oh yeah, dude, I'm going to take some money off the table of my own company and you know,
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I'll, I'm going to take this and then I'm, I'm going to still own this share.
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And it's like the whole reason they're taking money off the table of their company is because
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they want to live a lifestyle and like, bro, a real being good and entrepreneurship will
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If you just focus on being good instead of trying to leverage your way to it, you know?
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So I know a lot of people will say different things, but like, fuck dude, that's how I did
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That's how I have, uh, you know, all of these things going and I owe nobody fucking anything.
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Nobody can fucking pinch me on fucking anything.
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If I need more money, I get out of my checkbook, you know, my, yeah, yours.
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So, you know, you got to decide where it is you want to be.
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And my main thing is this, don't get impatient and take on money that you don't need because
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your friends and everybody around you talks about getting the money.
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You're not going to be able to fake it till you make it.
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They go out, they get some money, they start driving nicer shit.
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They think that's going to make them legitimate in business.
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The only thing that's going to make you legitimate in business is being fucking great at it.
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And by the way, there are plenty of opportunities that come along where you may need to take
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Like, I understand, like, I don't want anybody to take that answer as, oh, I'm against taking
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I'm just against taking debt that you don't actually need.
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Because, I mean, especially right now, it's fucking people are willing to give you money
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It's fucking powerful when it comes to being truly undeniable.
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Do you believe it's possible that that boss will never see that person and that employee
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or maybe will refuse to see that employee sees it as a threat?
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Maybe as that employee, how should they handle that?
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That's why it's important that you evaluate the culture structure of business.
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That's why it's important that you talk to people who have been there for many years.
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That's why it's important for you to talk to people who have moved up within the company.
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There's a lot of people out there that don't truly give a fuck and they will promise you
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everything and deliver you nothing no matter how hard you work.
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Being in the right organization is a fucking super.
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Like you could go give yourself a million percent to the wrong organization and they
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So you have to like pay attention and do your homework and see if they're actually trying
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You know, a lot of what I see companies do from a leadership standpoint.
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Is they talk about these big goals they have or these big visions they have, but they don't
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Like instead of taking, you know, five million dollars and fucking invest it into the company,
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they'll take that five million dollars to go buy a fucking beach house.
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Like you got to pay attention to what motherfuckers are doing.
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And by the way, if your CEO buys the beach house and fucking puts in the company, you can't
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Because he's doing his part reinvesting and building your fucking future there.
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But what's not respected is when motherfuckers say, oh, we're going to do this and this and
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this and this and this and then pull all the money off the table for themselves all the
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And so for you to have your employees buy into your company or your vision, you have to
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And here's the other part that I see a lot of these guys, these guys and girls, CEOs
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When you do that, it starts with just one person, like one person notices it.
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And then they start saying they say to the other guy in the break room, hey, man, you
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know, fuck, dude, this guy's saying he's going to do this.
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Oh, and by the way, the guy just bought a new beach house.
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Then you got that's the quickest way to ruin your culture is to be full of shit.
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OK, so stand for the what you say you're going to do.
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OK, understand that if you own a business, you're responsible for those people's careers.
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Take it serious and understand that if you build out their careers, they're going to help
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I feel like it gets overshadowed by people who think they're undeniable and they're really
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I had this fucking dude reach out my DMS and tell me how great he was.
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If I if you were that great, I'd fucking know it.
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Like, I'm not out of touch to who's fucking who inside where.
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Like, and so do people do overvalue themselves.
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And the reason that people overvalue themselves is because we live in a soft ass culture where
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people fucking think that getting out of bed, going to work, paying your bills and working
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hard is some sort of fucking bragging achievement.
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No, motherfucker, that's what you're supposed to do.
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If you want to be undeniable, you have to exceed that standard.
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So a lot of people think that just getting up, doing the normal shit.
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But at the bottom line, that's the fuck you're supposed to be doing.
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And if you want to build an actual career, if you want to build, you know, a lucrative position
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in life that pays you well, you have to become fucking undeniably great with skills, not
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Your friends in the break room all think you're great.
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I'm talking about you're putting numbers on the motherfucking scoreboard that are undeniable
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that you could show someone and say, look, dude, boom.
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And so and numbers on the scoreboard can appear in many different ways, by the way.
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You know, like there's cultural numbers on the scoreboard, like figuratively speaking.
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There's people who represent certain core values that are valuable just because they represent
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So there's all different kinds of ways to be valuable, you know, but undeniability comes
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You know, so if you're not trying to be undeniably great, you're probably going to always feel
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You're probably going to always feel like you're getting lost in the crowd.
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You're probably going to always feel like you're getting slighted when in reality, it's
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It's that you have set your standards to a point that is considered average for high
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Like what most people think a win is for me is not a win.
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When most people come to me at these events and they're like, I do this, this, this,
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this, like I don't really get excited because I look at them and I'm like, well, I hope
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And so we have to be real about what constitutes high skill level and high performance.
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This we're talking about producing real actual results.
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And you know, we've created this scenario in society where people are willing to do everything
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to appear to be undeniable, but are fucking so unwilling to do the work required to actually