222. Q&AF： How To Know When To Change Your Plan, Dealing With Actual Struggles & Introvert To Extrovert
Episode Stats
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Summary
In this episode of The Realest, I sit down with Andy Fussella to talk about the importance of having a game plan and why it's important to have one. We also talk about why you should never abandon your current play to make room for a new one.
Transcript
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What is up guys, it's Andy Priscilla and this is the show for the realest say goodbye to
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the lies, the figness and delusions of modern society and welcome to motherfucking reality.
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Guys, today we have Q and AF and before we get into it, I'd like to remind you of the fee.
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I mean dude, look, it's just, it's real simple and people hear it but they don't necessarily
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do it and the thing is, is like bro, I'm not pumping people with a bunch of fucking ads.
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I'm not running fucking shit in their face all day trying to, you know, I mean like
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look dude, we're out here trying to help people, we're trying to answer their questions, do
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All I ask is a little shitty shit, that's all, you know?
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Like it ain't gotta be like this big Instagram post that you make and talk to your friends
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Well dude, and especially man, like guys, if you've been listening to me for the last two
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years, you know that I've called all this shit exactly for what it was and had we had,
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We're number one, two or three in business every single day, no matter what.
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But had we been the number one show in the world, maybe we could have got more shit done.
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And as always, guys, you can email your questions into askandy at andyfussella.com and without
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Guys, these questions are designed to help you get ahead.
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Like what are you, what are you, what are you trying to do?
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A lot of you guys listen over the last couple of years and you come here for the political
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society commentary, but I'm a decent entrepreneur as well.
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You know, that's the purpose of we do these Q&As.
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So if you think it's something we can help you with, send it in.
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So our question number one for you, Andy, question number one.
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How often should you reflect on or change up the game plan?
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I get the, if it's not broke, don't fix it mentality, but should I change it?
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Well, I mean, dude, look, there's tons of nuance to that question, right?
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My answer to that question is that most people change things far too rapidly to ever get any
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Most people who are trying to build whatever they're trying to build, right?
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They're trying to build business, their fitness, a life, whatever.
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Most people have zero comprehension of how long it actually takes to get things going.
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And so what happens is they come up and they get this idea, right?
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Or this decision that they've come to, that they want to build X business, fitness, whatever.
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And because the world messaging is consistently fast, easy, instant, we're inundated with all
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these overnight millionaires on Instagram and running ads and we see all this shit every day.
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We start to assume that it's supposed to be quick, easy, and fast.
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And then what happens is we start to get down on ourselves because it's not happening for
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ourselves and then we abandon our run or we abandon our play for a new play.
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If you abandon the play that you're trying to run to get where you want to go too early
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for a new one and you never give it time to materialize and actually produce fruit, all
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right, what happens is you spend the next 20 years of your life every two or three years
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or fuck right now, man, it might be every six months because the time that people are claiming
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it to become successful is shorter and shorter and shorter.
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You know, there's now there's crypto experts and NFT experts and fucking everybody's getting
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And, you know, what I want you to understand is most of that's a lie.
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And I don't want you to fall into the trap of abandoning your plan because, you know,
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you see so-and-so doing this over here and then over here, you got this other knucklehead
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And what happens is we end up going, you know, every six months to a new thing, to a new thing,
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And we never give the thing enough time to actually materialize, right?
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There's an analogy that I like to use and I've used for many years of farmers, okay?
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If a farmer were to go out and plant a seed in the field and then walk out two days later,
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three days later, four days later, and look at the fucking hole where he put the seed and
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So there's an element of time that has to happen for you to get where you want to go.
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And that time, guys, is, I'm sorry to say, a lot longer than what you're being told via
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the social construct that we live in currently, right?
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So we're sold instant gratification and we're sold quick, easy, fast because that's what
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The wolves understand they got to fucking hunt and they got to hunt consistently.
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And if they give up on the hunt, guess what they know?
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Okay, so don't be the guy or the girl who re-scraps their plans every single six months
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Instead, be the person who sticks their head up every six months and says, okay, how can
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How can I take what I've already been doing and actually pivot it into a better direction?
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And that's what truly successful entrepreneurs do.
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They look at what they've done and they might say, okay, what we've done here, it's not
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But if we just tweaked it like this, this is what, and that's how we learn, right?
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And it's very frustrating for me as a true, I don't want to say self-made because I'm not
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I had a lot of people tell me some really good shit along the way that has helped me.
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I've had a lot of people work to help build these companies that I'm a part of.
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And so I don't like the term self-made, but in the way that most people think of it, I'm
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And for, as someone who's come from literally zero to where we are now, I want you to understand
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that the only way we could have got there is by not doing what most people do, which
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is three months, six months, scrap the plan, become a new thing.
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Every fucking thing that I've done in business has been singles and bunts and stolen bases.
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It's small, it's small things over a long period of time.
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So don't be that person who scraps all your shit just because you see Tony from the old
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neighborhood pretending to be successful because he's probably not.
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And if he is, he's only going to be temporary because the skills required to keep success occur
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over a long period of time, not in a short period of time.
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So even if you were to hit a home run and you were to, let's say, get that NFT that makes
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you $3 million, motherfucker, you're not going to be able to keep it because you never built
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So question reads, Andy, I know that you've spoken a lot about the victimhood mentality
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My question is, what's your advice for someone who actually went through some real pain and
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real struggle that isn't trying to play the victim card, but it's trying to turn their
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Like, dude, I went, I was stabbed in the fucking face, dude.
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I was heavily disfigured for the first two years of that.
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What you guys see today is not what it looked like for the first two years.
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And by the way, that's only one of the things I've gone through.
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What you have to do is you have to look at the situation that you're dealing with.
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And instead of saying, oh, dude, poor me, poor me, poor me, start to fucking figure
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out how the lessons that you've learned can help others.
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And also what you've learned and how to drive that through forward.
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For example, like one of the things that for me was very beneficial of getting stabbed
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Was, um, and I didn't realize this until after I pulled my head out of my ass.
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So for the first instant lesson, no, no, it took me a year or so to figure it out.
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Um, I had this, I had this, this amazing experience with this woman who truly, uh, changed my entire
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Um, and I'm not going to tell the whole story here, but the point is, is that I was in business
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And up until that time, when we got, when I got stabbed in the face, no one cared who
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We would go to trade shows and we would, um, go, go try to meet people and make, you know,
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And it was very hard for us to get any traction because we didn't have anything.
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We didn't have, uh, you know, we, there was nothing special about us.
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But when I got stabbed in the face, something happened.
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So now all these people, yes, because my, my face was fucked up.
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And, and, and you might say, well, fuck, that's a heavy price to pay to be remembered.
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And it was, and it is, but now dude, it's a part of me.
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Like now, 20 years later, whatever it is, um, 19 years later, it's a fucking part of who
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So, and I've had, you know, at the time I couldn't afford to get those scars fixed.
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And now I have some of my best friends in the world or best plastic surgeons there are.
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And they're like, bro, I can take care of that.
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So that thing that was actually like my biggest negative and self-criticism thing actually
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ended up being a blessing because what it did was it allowed us to go to trade shows
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or allow me to meet people in the grocery store, or it allowed me to, to do things, um, to where
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people will remember me, you know, before it was, Hey, you know, Andy and Chris from supplement
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And, and then, then it became, no, you, you know, them, the Andy, the dude with the fucking
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scars and they'd be like, Oh yeah, dude, I know.
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And I started to realize like, at first when I was down in that pity party, I get pissed
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And then I'm like, then when that, when I met that woman in the grocery store who had been
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burned in the airplane crash, um, and we had that conversation, a lot of you guys know
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And I started to be able to see things for the advantages that they brought, not for
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And almost every single hardship that you face and dude, I want to say this with some
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real empathy, because there are some really horrible things that happen to people.
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But if you look hard enough, there's something about it that can serve you.
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There's something about it that can make you better.
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There's something about it that can help others.
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And that's what I would give this person, uh, my advice is like, look for the thing that
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you learned and, and, and, and try to use that to either move yourself forward or move
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So you really have to find the silver lining, uh, in these negative situations.
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And I truly believe that the perspective you choose is the perspective you'll have.
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And by the way, it is the perspective other people will have, right?
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Like nobody walks up to me anymore and it's like, oh dude, you're fucking scars on your
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And that's a great thing because it, it, it, it, it preludes me and sets a precedent for
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my presence when I walk into a room or when I meet someone or when I, you know what I'm
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Like your, your hardships, if you can learn to see through them can actually become some
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of the most powerful things in your life that drive you forward.
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And that's how I would encourage someone to think about that's fucking awesome.
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You don't say like, yeah, he makes dick jokes with his leg.
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Derek's a guy who, uh, was shot through the leg, uh, in Iraq had, he chose to have his
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leg amputated because it wasn't going to function right anymore.
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And now dude, he's one of the best fucking athletes, adaptive athletes in the world.
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He inspires literally fucking millions of people.
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We just had another young lady who was here with, uh, an adaptive with, uh, above the
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Who's now going to go into the adaptive, the CrossFit games.
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And this dude has inspired literally millions of people because of, of his journey.
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And it's not been easy for him, but I've been friends with him for a long time, dude.
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He's gone through all kinds of mental things and come out the other side of who he is now,
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And dude, that's a hard conversation to have with yourself.
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Um, when bad things happen, because dude, everybody will remind you of how horrible
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Like, so you're constantly, you're constantly inundated with other people's sympathy, which
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And you, at some point you've got to sit to people.
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Hey, like, dude, people say to me when it does come up and they find out like that
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I'm like, this is the best fucking thing that ever happened to me, dude.
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So, and dude, I could have easily went the other way and I could have easily went the
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other way and said, cause dude, I was suicidal at that time.
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Like I could have easily killed myself at that point in time.
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So like, dude, we have to take what happens to us in stride and we have to understand that there's
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And Ed Milet, my business partner, he says, uh, and one of the smartest dudes I fucking
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know, he says all the time, it doesn't happen to us.
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There's horrible fucking things that some of you guys have gone through losing a child,
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Like shit that is like, there's nothing good that you can say of it, but maybe you can be
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of help to someone else who also is going through the same thing or, you know what I'm
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Like there's all kinds of little things that won't necessarily remove the trauma that happens
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from that, but we'll help you find some good in that.
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Uh, Andy, our third and final question for you, Andy, I am an introvert.
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What are your recommendations for someone trying to climb out of this introvert cage when I'm
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That takes practice because I'm an introvert as well.
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You know, a lot of people think I'm an extrovert, you know, for sure I'm not, um, because you're
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And when I tell people I am, they don't, they don't understand that I actually am.
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Like for me to go to a public event, um, and speak or do it, this is why I don't really
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Because like, dude, the anxiety that comes with it is really hard for me to deal with.
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Um, so I have to practice and the way what, what I came to realize, and this goes for any
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of you guys, this, every single person who's listening to the show right now should follow
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this advice because it will improve your life tremendously.
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I realized, uh, a little over 10 years ago that I had to get better with people.
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Like if I was going to be successful and we were going to fulfill our vision for first
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form and for supplement super stores, um, and for all the other companies that we, that
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we run, um, I was going to have to get better with people, dude, like more comfortable with
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Like, and, and, and when you throw technology on top of, of the introvert nature of people,
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Like if you're 20 years old right now and you're an introvert and you've grown up on technology
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and you're naturally an introvert, you've got like a couple of things bearing you right
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now because we didn't have that when I grew up.
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So I still knew how to, how to shake a hand and it's, you know, look someone in the eye
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But most of these younger people right now really are at a disadvantage with that.
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And you have people telling you, oh, it doesn't matter because it's all technology and you
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And the people who are good with people are going to win way bigger than the people who are
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Well, we have to put ourselves in those situations intentionally.
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So what I did was I developed a fucking little routine of mine.
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Um, I lived over here in South County and I went to the South County Dearburgs.
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Uh, and those are you in St. Louis, you know what I'm talking about right there, Tess on
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And I would go in that Dearburgs and I would make myself talk to three people.
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And so I would go there not to buy anything, but to walk through the store and try to introduce
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myself or have a meaningful conversation of small conversation, not like fucking war and
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Like that's all child hunger right now, but also not, Hey, how you doing?
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And then for those of you guys who are just starting, Hey, how you doing might be this
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But what I would do in the, I made up little rule.
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The rule was I couldn't leave the store until I talked to three people.
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And after a year or so doing that, you get to know a lot of people in your area.
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I actually think from doing this, it actually helped make us get where we are today because
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I ended up having so many conversations with people that were in my area of where our retail
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stores were that it actually drummed up business unintentionally.
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So the intention was for me to go in, uh, make small talk or have some sort of interaction
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Sometimes it took me two hours, but I did it for years, years and years and years.
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And what that did was that allowed me to break down all the weird, uh, social, socially awkward,
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um, you know, actions that I know that you normally have from being an introvert.
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And so, dude, it's, it's no different than anything else, bro.
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If you want to get good at something, you have to practice it.
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Or your, wherever, whatever your local grocery store is, go in and, and make yourself talk
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And no matter what it takes, if you do that for a fuck, if you do that for a fucking month,
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if you do it for 30 fucking days, I promise you it will change your fucking life.
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And, and now like, dude, I could talk to anybody.
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Like I, I don't, I'm not an extrovert person, but I can easily, I have the skills to be extroverted.
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It allows me to come up with the ideas that I need that are, that are maybe creative or
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But then I also have the skillset when I go in public and I know what needs to be done
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And so we can't rely on the traits that we were born with.
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It likes to tell us, oh, you know, well, you know, you're fat or you're an introvert or
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And dude, the truth is we just lack the skills.
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If you start to look at all these things as skills instead of traits, it becomes very
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And how to improve them is to put yourself in those situations and tension.
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We're out here trying to do some good stuff for y'all.