REAL AF with Andy Frisella - October 20, 2015


Are You Really An Entrepreneur Or Not？ with Andy Frisella - MFCEO21


Episode Stats

Length

58 minutes

Words per Minute

201.2193

Word Count

11,871

Sentence Count

967

Misogynist Sentences

4

Hate Speech Sentences

10


Summary

In this episode of the MFCEO Project, CEO Andy Fristella and his co-host, Vaughn the Impaler, catch up with their good friend and former co-worker, Ben Gebbins. The guys talk about Ben's recent trip to the Virgin Islands, what it's like being a motivational speaker, and what it s like being an entrepreneur.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 All I do is work, work, work, never run the sidelines, I only hustle, hustle, never take
00:00:05.780 your day off, I only work, work, work, I don't mess around, kid, I only can't, can't,
00:00:11.660 money never sleeps, get your future, all I do is work, all I do is work, all I do is
00:00:17.560 work.
00:00:18.160 Hey guys, what's up?
00:00:19.440 You're listening to the MFCEO Project.
00:00:21.460 I'm Andy Fristella and I am the motherfucking CEO.
00:00:24.340 I'm here with my co-host, Vaughn the Impaler.
00:00:27.500 What's up, Vaughn?
00:00:28.420 How are we?
00:00:28.880 I'm ready to get back at it, man.
00:00:30.360 You've been gone for too long.
00:00:31.780 Yeah, it's been a couple weeks.
00:00:32.820 Your fans have been clamoring for you.
00:00:34.700 Oh yeah, I'm so sure.
00:00:35.760 Yeah.
00:00:36.380 Yeah.
00:00:37.800 Yeah, man, you know, sick for a week, then I was in Virgin Islands for a week and now I'm
00:00:43.400 back.
00:00:43.880 Yeah, what were you doing with Virgin Islands?
00:00:45.460 I know, but nobody else.
00:00:46.460 Yeah, we had a do it anyway boot camp with Ben and I and then Michael Gebbins and Randy
00:00:56.780 Wells, a former pitcher of the Chicago Cubs, did a boot camp for 50 people in Virgin Islands.
00:01:01.560 It was awesome.
00:01:02.540 It was awesome.
00:01:03.160 It was one of the coolest things I've done.
00:01:04.460 Very cool.
00:01:05.060 So, yeah.
00:01:06.260 So, yeah.
00:01:07.140 What were some of the things you talked about?
00:01:09.280 You know, it was just a total A to Z how to execute workshop.
00:01:14.760 It wasn't a rah-rah, get motivated workshop.
00:01:17.000 It was like, you know, walk away with some tools to actually get shit done.
00:01:21.120 So, it was a little bit different than, you know, just quote unquote motivational speaking.
00:01:26.540 You know, you can go pay to hear anybody pump you up, but my feeling is if I'm paying, I
00:01:31.640 want to take something away that's going to be practical.
00:01:33.460 Yeah.
00:01:33.780 Something that I can use, something that's going to help me move forward.
00:01:36.860 So, yeah.
00:01:37.540 And I think we did that.
00:01:38.680 The feedback was great.
00:01:40.640 The people were great.
00:01:41.640 Everybody there was somebody who was successful in their own right.
00:01:47.420 So, everybody was like-minded and on the same path.
00:01:49.380 It was cool.
00:01:49.920 It was a lot of fun.
00:01:50.680 What does that feel like for you?
00:01:51.940 Because this is, I mean, the whole MFCEO project and the, you know, the motivational speaker.
00:01:58.400 This is kind of a new venture for you within the last year.
00:02:00.940 So, starting something new.
00:02:02.100 How does that make you feel?
00:02:03.860 It's fun.
00:02:04.920 Yeah.
00:02:05.480 Yeah, man.
00:02:06.180 It was well-received.
00:02:07.660 It was good.
00:02:08.180 It felt like we're trying to, you know, we're finally making an impact, a real impact that
00:02:13.560 you could see.
00:02:14.240 You know, we have the podcast and we talk about all these things all the time, but you
00:02:18.140 don't actually see people or really talk to them about it.
00:02:21.400 Yeah.
00:02:21.660 That was a situation where you get direct feedback, see how it's affecting people, get their feedback,
00:02:26.140 and it was cool.
00:02:27.360 It was rewarding.
00:02:27.960 That's awesome.
00:02:28.720 That's awesome.
00:02:29.520 You know, I've noticed this in society over the last few years, maybe three or four years.
00:02:36.820 It's become super cool to be an entrepreneur, which I think is funny because it's like become
00:02:45.240 like this trendy thing, almost like, you know, sitting in your computer with a Starbucks and
00:02:50.500 a Mac and like, I'm an entrepreneur.
00:02:52.720 Like, it's like this thing that people want to be and they want to call themselves that
00:02:56.700 and it's become cool.
00:02:58.280 And I think it's funny because, you know, 17 years ago when I started my business, saying
00:03:03.920 you wanted to be an entrepreneur was like saying you wanted to be a loser.
00:03:06.980 It was like saying, oh, I didn't want to go to school.
00:03:09.760 So I made excuses and then I started my own business and everybody was like, oh, he's
00:03:13.740 an entrepreneur, which means he's broke.
00:03:15.380 Right.
00:03:15.800 You know what I mean?
00:03:16.700 And now it's like, oh, he's an entrepreneur.
00:03:19.660 You know, that's so cool.
00:03:20.760 And I just I don't know where that comes from.
00:03:23.440 Like, where the fuck is that coming from?
00:03:25.280 You know what I mean?
00:03:25.760 Because still being an entrepreneur means you're going to be broke for a long time.
00:03:30.480 Usually.
00:03:31.360 Right.
00:03:31.940 But it's become this cool thing.
00:03:33.440 I just I don't know.
00:03:34.460 Do you think in part it comes from the fact that all the people who are being laughed at
00:03:38.540 for being entrepreneurs are now killing it?
00:03:41.920 Yeah.
00:03:42.100 But that hasn't changed from the course of time.
00:03:45.020 I mean, even that's always the way it has been.
00:03:48.220 Yeah.
00:03:48.400 I don't understand if it's because the Internet's started to glorify people or what it is.
00:03:52.780 But, you know, it might have to do with the fact that, you know, 50 years ago, if you
00:03:57.460 held up guys who were sort of your your traditional entrepreneurs and you looked at them, they would
00:04:02.940 be the buttoned up, nicely combed hair, you know, probably more traditional, whereas now
00:04:08.580 there's more personality.
00:04:10.320 There's the Gary V's of the world.
00:04:11.760 There's the MF CEOs of the world.
00:04:13.320 And so there's a way there's the entrepreneurs have almost presented themselves more now as
00:04:18.560 rock stars than they used to.
00:04:20.140 Does that make sense?
00:04:20.860 Yeah, maybe.
00:04:21.360 I don't know.
00:04:21.760 It's just it's just funny.
00:04:23.280 You know, I feel like and the funny thing is, is I feel like all these younger, quote
00:04:28.580 unquote, entrepreneurs have so many advantages over what people like myself have when I started,
00:04:35.600 including, you know, including that they're not dumped on like they like used to be.
00:04:41.660 Right.
00:04:42.000 Right.
00:04:42.160 You know what I mean?
00:04:42.600 And there's all sorts of free services.
00:04:44.260 Yeah.
00:04:44.480 It's crazy.
00:04:45.200 You have all the tools.
00:04:46.120 You have all these, you know, apps.
00:04:47.720 You have all these these resources online.
00:04:51.360 You have social media.
00:04:52.400 You have all this shit.
00:04:53.540 And yet you still you still hear all the same bullshit excuses.
00:04:58.740 You know what I mean?
00:04:59.440 It's never been easier to actually be an entrepreneur than it is right now.
00:05:03.320 But because people don't have the perspective of what it used to be like to start something
00:05:07.720 from scratch without the Internet, you know, without social media, without a positive light
00:05:13.900 shining on people who wanted to quit school and be a fucking entrepreneur, you know, and
00:05:18.520 they think this is hard.
00:05:19.720 This is the easiest time in the history of Earth to create an income developed around
00:05:24.900 your own framework, which is which is essentially what being an entrepreneur is all about, you
00:05:29.320 know, so.
00:05:31.440 So then I suppose because the trendiness and the and the easiness of it, that that would
00:05:36.140 explain why there are a lot of people trying to become entrepreneurs who really, at the
00:05:40.940 end of the day, have no business doing it.
00:05:42.840 Yeah.
00:05:43.060 A lot of people say, you know, oh, anybody can learn to be an entrepreneur.
00:05:46.840 I don't personally believe that.
00:05:48.280 I believe that it's something you have or something you don't have.
00:05:50.740 It's got to be in your DNA.
00:05:51.880 I believe that.
00:05:52.960 Yeah.
00:05:53.160 You know, there's two schools of thought.
00:05:54.360 There's either school you can learn it.
00:05:55.920 There's a school that you have it.
00:05:57.140 I believe that you have it.
00:05:59.460 I've not really seen anybody go out and try to learn it and really become successful.
00:06:03.980 A lot of people argue that.
00:06:07.700 But, you know, at the end of the day, that's how I feel.
00:06:10.060 It's what I observe.
00:06:10.900 And it's what I think is the truth.
00:06:12.700 I think certain people don't have what it takes.
00:06:14.800 Certain people can't live with the uncertainty.
00:06:16.460 Certain people can't have the discipline.
00:06:19.280 You know, you can always tell those people, too, because they're the people who say, oh, I
00:06:22.620 want the freedom of being an entrepreneur.
00:06:24.100 You don't have any fucking freedom.
00:06:25.580 It's like the hardest thing possible.
00:06:27.140 Because you've got to design the framework, have the discipline to enforce the framework
00:06:31.460 on a daily basis every single day for years and years and years and years.
00:06:36.460 And the fact of the matter is most people are used to having people tell them what to
00:06:40.200 do.
00:06:41.100 So whenever they get the quote unquote perceived freedom that they think is what being an
00:06:46.400 entrepreneur is about, you know, they don't follow through on the discipline of executing.
00:06:51.200 And then that's what happens.
00:06:52.220 You know, they fail.
00:06:53.260 So this is this goes back to what Tyron Woodley said last podcast, which I thought was I don't
00:06:59.900 know why it surprised me, but it really hit me when he said it.
00:07:02.220 And that was he was talking about, you know, the importance of killing it and, you know,
00:07:06.300 working hard and all those kinds of things.
00:07:07.880 But then at one point he said, but you know what?
00:07:10.060 You also have to be gifted.
00:07:11.720 And if you're not built for something, then you shouldn't be doing it.
00:07:14.700 And he talked about how we've got people who are judges that really should be school teachers
00:07:18.100 or school teachers that really should be judges.
00:07:20.380 So that's something people don't think about, you know, because we're told you can be anything
00:07:24.120 you want to be, which is kind of true, but kind of also not true.
00:07:27.560 There's limits to that.
00:07:28.480 Yeah.
00:07:28.860 Okay.
00:07:29.760 And there's always an asterisk to everything.
00:07:32.440 All right.
00:07:33.300 Everything I say, everything, everything I post, everything you say, everything anybody on
00:07:38.400 the internet says, there's an asterisk.
00:07:40.660 There's people that it doesn't apply to their situation.
00:07:42.900 It doesn't apply to like when I say on the internet, if you work your ass off as hard
00:07:48.420 as you can for 10 years, you could build the life you want and be anything you want.
00:07:53.960 Chances are, you're not going to turn into Usain Bolt.
00:07:56.960 Okay.
00:07:57.840 No matter how many fucking sprints you do, no matter how perfect your workout is, no matter
00:08:02.820 how perfect your, your diet is, no matter how hard you work, you're not going to win
00:08:07.780 the fucking Olympics in a hundred meters or the 200 meters.
00:08:10.060 It's not going to happen because you're not built for it.
00:08:12.900 You know, so that's, that's what people got to think about, you know, and certain people
00:08:17.740 are more adept at certain skills, you know, certain people are better listeners, certain
00:08:21.660 people are better natural leaders and you can learn those skills and improve them.
00:08:27.840 But are you ever going to be the best at them?
00:08:30.220 I don't know.
00:08:31.260 Right.
00:08:31.740 You know, but I know being an entrepreneur, I personally have not known or seen someone
00:08:37.880 who doesn't have it in their DNA, go out and be super successful at being an entrepreneur.
00:08:43.140 Right.
00:08:43.680 I've not, I've not seen it.
00:08:44.880 So obviously being an entrepreneur is radically different from being a pastor, but something
00:08:49.000 one of my, my professors said in seminary is really applicable to this.
00:08:52.480 He said, he said, this very, very first day of class, he said, if I can talk you out of
00:08:56.800 this good, but if I can't then go forward and be, be excited about it, you know, be committed
00:09:02.920 to it.
00:09:03.300 So it sounds like that's what you want to do with people.
00:09:05.120 You want to either talk them out of them, talk them out of it or, you know, help them
00:09:10.020 to have a kind of a gut check.
00:09:11.220 Like, yeah, I mean, my goal here is to either a, my goal here is to fuck your goals up.
00:09:16.580 It's to make you question them.
00:09:18.040 It's to make you realize a, you're limiting yourself or B, this isn't for you so that you
00:09:25.340 save time.
00:09:26.240 So you don't run down this path that is so far, that is so far, you know, and so hard and
00:09:32.680 so long with an unrealistic expectation that you waste 20 years of your life.
00:09:37.520 You know, the reality is some people just aren't meant to be entrepreneurs.
00:09:41.600 I believe that.
00:09:42.720 Right.
00:09:43.280 So how do you know that you're an entrepreneur to your core?
00:09:45.860 Just because you've been successful?
00:09:48.020 Oh, it's because I love everything about it.
00:09:51.140 You know, I started being an entrepreneur when I was like six or seven years old.
00:09:56.040 You know, I was selling baseball cards.
00:09:57.460 I was selling fucking lemonade.
00:09:58.980 I was going door to door selling light bulbs.
00:10:01.060 I was trying to do everything I could to be in business and earn money.
00:10:05.780 And, you know, that's something that, you know, people decide they want to be an entrepreneur
00:10:12.620 for all these reasons.
00:10:15.060 And they're usually wrong.
00:10:16.320 They usually see entrepreneur driving up in a nice car or owning a business or having,
00:10:20.620 you know, they come and see like their nice headquarters like we have here.
00:10:24.420 And they say, oh man, I wish I could do that.
00:10:26.440 I want to be an entrepreneur.
00:10:27.440 And that's how they decide that.
00:10:29.060 When in reality, I've been an entrepreneur since I was five years old.
00:10:32.220 You know what I mean?
00:10:32.780 I've been doing this since I was literally five years old.
00:10:35.660 That means for 31 fucking years, I've been practicing entrepreneurship in one form or another.
00:10:42.460 Yeah.
00:10:42.720 Okay.
00:10:43.160 So you're seeing the culmination of that much time of failing, learning lessons, interactions
00:10:51.020 with people, making an ass of myself, embarrassing myself, failing.
00:10:56.300 You know, you're seeing all those things come together and it's still fucking hard.
00:11:00.520 You know what I mean?
00:11:02.400 And I'm not going to be one of these people who paints, you know, myself like I'm some
00:11:07.020 sort of entrepreneurial God.
00:11:09.080 I struggle every day with it and it's in my fucking blood.
00:11:12.140 And so if it's not in your blood and it's not what you do and it's not something that
00:11:15.620 you're passionate about doing, it's not something that you should do.
00:11:19.700 Yeah.
00:11:20.300 Period.
00:11:20.840 And I think your pattern holds across all the people that I know of that are successful
00:11:24.860 entrepreneurs.
00:11:25.440 Cause that's what, uh, Tony Hsieh talks about in delivering happiness is like literally
00:11:29.680 from the time he could remember he was doing something business.
00:11:32.740 I think, what did he, didn't he sell like earthworms?
00:11:35.960 Yeah.
00:11:36.400 Yeah.
00:11:36.600 He did.
00:11:37.220 Yeah.
00:11:37.420 Yeah.
00:11:37.680 And then he'd like from one thing to the next.
00:11:39.500 And you know, it's kind of funny cause you, you know, sometimes we, we mock people who
00:11:44.420 are like, tell me about your childhood.
00:11:45.880 But the reality is if you look back in your childhood, that's a pretty good indication because
00:11:49.480 I was recently just thinking about this as, as, as, as long ago as I can remember, like
00:11:55.060 five years old, I was writing, I was writing.
00:11:58.220 I mean, as soon as, well, I should say as soon as I was able to write, I was writing.
00:12:01.340 Right.
00:12:01.660 You know, and the same, same thing with you is what you're saying is that it's gotta be
00:12:06.280 in your DNA.
00:12:07.220 So, well, and, and, and so that ties back into what was saying about entrepreneurship being
00:12:11.720 glorified now.
00:12:12.480 So now what you have is you have this glorification of being an entrepreneur, which makes and draws
00:12:17.560 people in who really shouldn't be drawn into that.
00:12:21.100 You know what I mean?
00:12:22.020 And you're having a lot of like, Hey man, if you're one of these people and you're listening
00:12:26.460 and you don't feel like entrepreneurship was in your blood and you learned it, send me an
00:12:30.100 email.
00:12:30.380 Cause I'd love to hear the story.
00:12:31.540 Yeah.
00:12:32.120 Honestly.
00:12:32.800 Yeah.
00:12:33.120 But, uh, but from my experience, it's just not something that you should do.
00:12:38.060 You know, it's not for everybody.
00:12:39.620 It's not being your own.
00:12:41.080 And you can always tell, you know, be, I want to be my own boss.
00:12:44.120 No, you're never, you're never your own fucking boss.
00:12:46.120 You're, you're, you're ruled by your customers.
00:12:49.060 You're ruled by your employees.
00:12:50.980 If you're, if you're an entrepreneur, you don't, you're not your own boss.
00:12:53.900 I don't get to decide what the fuck I do and not do.
00:12:55.960 I have to do shit.
00:12:57.460 And I have a lot of people that depend on that.
00:12:59.220 And if I don't do that shit, guess what?
00:13:01.120 Those people don't eat.
00:13:02.660 They don't get to pay their bills.
00:13:04.480 You know, your dad talked about that.
00:13:06.160 Yes.
00:13:06.460 Yeah.
00:13:06.980 So, you know, be this, the sense of freedom that people are looking for.
00:13:11.000 To be an entrepreneur or it doesn't exist.
00:13:15.020 And the other thing that I hear that is just total bullshit is like, oh, you know, I want to take this risk of, of going out and starting my own career and starting my own and taking things in charge and blah, blah, blah.
00:13:30.600 You know, an entrepreneur's mindset is going to look at that and say, no, the risk is sitting in a job that somebody else is your boss that can fire you at any fucking minute.
00:13:40.260 You know what I mean?
00:13:41.260 Yeah.
00:13:41.500 And like, I see that as the way bigger risk than being an entrepreneur.
00:13:44.840 Yeah.
00:13:45.160 You know, so they're like, oh, let's go take a risk.
00:13:47.960 Well, you're taking a risk already.
00:13:49.860 You're just not seeing it the right way.
00:13:51.940 So, yeah, I think that's a good, that's a good place to start.
00:13:54.320 You know, people need to need to kind of survey themselves and say, hey, is this for me?
00:13:58.900 Am I an entrepreneur at the core?
00:14:01.160 All right.
00:14:01.720 And I would say like people, most people are like a percentage of entrepreneur.
00:14:06.180 Like some people have like, let's say 20% entrepreneur DNA or 30% entrepreneur DNA.
00:14:12.340 When I say entrepreneur at the core, I'm talking like 70, 70% or greater entrepreneur DNA.
00:14:18.240 All right.
00:14:18.720 Like for me, I could not fucking work for someone else.
00:14:21.580 I just couldn't.
00:14:22.940 All right.
00:14:23.240 It has nothing to do with, it has nothing to do with not being able to take direction because I take direction every day from my customers.
00:14:29.960 I take direction every day from my employees.
00:14:31.860 You know, it's not about that.
00:14:33.480 It's just about, I, I enjoy designing the framework of which I live my life in, which is what an entrepreneur is about.
00:14:41.180 They design the framework of their life.
00:14:43.660 They design the framework of their business.
00:14:45.200 I enjoy that aspect.
00:14:46.340 I enjoy building things.
00:14:48.100 I enjoy seeing people who have invested in my company, meaning my employees, like investing their time and their belief.
00:14:57.360 I enjoy seeing them go out and succeed and buy a new house, buy a new car, put their kids through school.
00:15:04.300 I enjoy these things.
00:15:05.660 Those are the things that I love about being an entrepreneur.
00:15:07.920 I, I think that, um, most people don't think that deep into it, but you know, I think it's a good place to start.
00:15:14.500 You know, you want to survey and see where you are percentage wise.
00:15:16.860 If I was going to percentage myself on percentage entrepreneur, I'm a hundred percent entrepreneur.
00:15:22.280 I mean, there's no, there's no way I would be out selling, figuring out how to sell fucking dog turds.
00:15:26.800 Right.
00:15:27.040 If I had to, for real.
00:15:28.340 And you were, you'd be miserable if you're doing anything else.
00:15:30.660 Right.
00:15:30.860 Exactly.
00:15:31.080 I would be happier doing that than working as a assistant or a job at some fortune 500 company.
00:15:37.820 Right.
00:15:38.160 You know what I mean?
00:15:38.680 Right.
00:15:38.880 And because people constantly have this tendency to misunderstand, because you've said this a billion gazillion times, you'd be miserable, not because doing something else would be bad.
00:15:50.820 You don't have anything against the guy that goes nine to five job or whatever.
00:15:54.940 It's just that that's not for you.
00:15:56.920 Exactly.
00:15:57.240 Right.
00:15:57.500 And if you're an entrepreneur, it's not going to be for you.
00:16:00.060 Dude, some people should work a nine to five job.
00:16:02.740 Some people are very successful in a nine to five job.
00:16:06.000 Some people are built for commission sales.
00:16:07.980 Some people are built to work in a warehouse.
00:16:10.400 Some people are built to work at fucking fast food.
00:16:13.040 That's it.
00:16:14.180 We're all built for something different.
00:16:16.160 Okay.
00:16:17.600 But the glorification of entrepreneurship has sucked in people that really shouldn't be.
00:16:22.620 And I feel bad for these people because I get emails every day for sometimes of these people saying, you know, hey, I've got four employees.
00:16:34.560 How do I manage them?
00:16:36.420 I'm like, bro, you know, what do you mean?
00:16:40.660 Well, I got how do you manage four employees?
00:16:42.720 Like, I'm just like, dude, you know, come on.
00:16:45.980 You've got to be a problem solver.
00:16:47.240 You've got to be able to learn certain shit on your own.
00:16:49.680 Right.
00:16:49.820 You know, it's just basic stuff.
00:16:51.420 And some people just don't have the capacity to do that.
00:16:54.520 So there's nothing wrong with not having that capacity.
00:16:56.700 Don't take that.
00:16:57.340 Don't take it that way.
00:16:59.680 Right.
00:16:59.940 And at the risk of sounding kind of harsh, you can get four people in a car.
00:17:04.980 If you can't manage the amount of people that you can fit in a car, you're not an entrepreneur.
00:17:09.580 Yeah, you're not an entrepreneur.
00:17:10.440 Period.
00:17:11.000 Yeah.
00:17:11.180 So some questions or some statements that will help you identify that.
00:17:16.700 Are you somebody who's not satisfied with the standard status quo or average or being typical?
00:17:24.020 Are you the guy who wants to drive to work every day in a minivan in a suit and say, you know,
00:17:29.960 do your TPS report reports, you know, and just be a regular dude.
00:17:35.480 If you're not satisfied doing that, that's probably because you have some entrepreneurial DNA in you.
00:17:42.160 There's nothing wrong with the standard life of go to school, get married, work a nine to five job.
00:17:46.280 It's just that if you're frustrated with that and you're angry with that, you're not happy there.
00:17:50.920 It could be because you have some of this DNA inside of you and you need to explore how much of that you have.
00:17:56.660 Do you think, because we get this question a lot, is sometimes people say, Andy, I am an entrepreneur to the core.
00:18:06.920 I am, you know, very frustrated with my job, but just in practical terms, I think I have to stay with my nine to five job just a little bit longer to get where I need to be.
00:18:16.440 Everybody does that.
00:18:17.380 Okay.
00:18:17.720 Yeah.
00:18:17.960 I mean, that's normal.
00:18:18.940 You know what I mean?
00:18:19.420 Um, but the thing, here's the thing is, is that if you're an entrepreneur at the core, you're never going to be satisfied with the average lifestyle.
00:18:28.980 You're never going to be satisfied with showing up, clocking in, clocking out, going home.
00:18:34.520 It's not going to be for you and you're going to be frustrated and you might not be able to even recognize why you're so frustrated.
00:18:39.940 You know, so maybe this question will help you guys figure out why you are frustrated with what you're doing.
00:18:46.220 You know, you have the desire internally to create a product, to offer a service, to build a business, to build an empire.
00:18:52.860 You know, these are hard things.
00:18:54.200 They're rare things.
00:18:55.320 And that's what makes them great things.
00:18:57.400 You know, entrepreneurs at the core want to be fucking great.
00:19:01.780 Okay.
00:19:02.060 They don't want to live a quote unquote normal existence.
00:19:05.600 They have the, the, the heart, they have the desire, they have the feeling inside that they want to be more.
00:19:12.760 All right.
00:19:13.800 Do you think a fair question to, to help people determine whether they are at the core, we'll say a repressed entrepreneur is if you are a person who is in a job in which you are getting paid really well and you are still miserable, that's probably a good indication that you're an entrepreneur.
00:19:31.860 Or you're, you're, you're good at the certain skillset that your company, that your company is asking you to do.
00:19:38.160 You're just not passionate about the product that's being, um, you know, that's involved in your company or service in your company.
00:19:44.520 Maybe you could take that same skillset, move it to something you're passionate about and succeed and be happy in another company.
00:19:50.800 Or like you just said, maybe you could take that same skillset, grab something you're passionate about and run your own company and be 10 times more satisfied.
00:20:00.760 Right, right.
00:20:01.560 So I'm going to get you really fired up on this because what you just said is that entrepreneurs want to be great.
00:20:07.220 And what's.
00:20:07.680 No, that's not what I said.
00:20:09.280 I said they want to be fucking great.
00:20:10.420 You did.
00:20:10.900 You did.
00:20:11.300 You did.
00:20:11.660 You did.
00:20:12.140 That's a good, good, good qualification.
00:20:14.060 You can't be a Von Diesel without, without acknowledging at least the F word.
00:20:18.940 That's true.
00:20:19.520 That's a good point.
00:20:20.460 But so here's my point.
00:20:21.680 My point is that I can see the person out there going, oh, wait.
00:20:25.320 So if I'm a teacher, I don't want to be great.
00:20:27.960 If I'm an engineer working for a large firm, I don't want to be great.
00:20:32.240 And I would say actually in a sense, no, we throw the word greatness around too easily.
00:20:38.360 You could be a good person.
00:20:39.640 You can accomplish a lot of great things.
00:20:42.200 I don't know.
00:20:42.640 I'm just, I'm curious.
00:20:43.720 I want you to defend what you mean by want to be, want to be great.
00:20:47.080 What does that mean?
00:20:47.900 I would switch out the term, maybe want to be great with make a gigantic impact or make
00:20:54.400 a gigantic dent in the universe.
00:20:56.520 Okay.
00:20:57.280 You're not going to be able, and I'm sorry if you're working in a whatever job and you
00:21:03.500 said, would you say engineer or would you say engineer and teacher?
00:21:06.980 And we are talking about business again.
00:21:09.200 Yeah.
00:21:09.400 We're not talking about all of life.
00:21:10.720 Right.
00:21:11.100 Which we're going to get emails said, mother Teresa made the biggest impact.
00:21:14.240 You know what?
00:21:15.160 You're right.
00:21:16.100 Okay.
00:21:16.500 That's greatness.
00:21:17.120 There's all different kinds of greatness.
00:21:18.640 Right.
00:21:19.140 But you know, your, your ability, let's say, let's use the term teacher.
00:21:24.500 For example, you're like, yeah, I'm making a great impact on students every day.
00:21:28.100 Are you really?
00:21:29.100 Are you, or do you just, did you just sell yourself on that story?
00:21:33.900 Because I know a lot of fucking teachers that are shit.
00:21:36.540 There shouldn't be teachers.
00:21:37.680 And they became teachers because they couldn't do anything else.
00:21:41.700 Right.
00:21:42.420 Now I do know teachers that are fucking awesome.
00:21:44.460 I mean, I've had some that have inspired me.
00:21:47.640 I've had teachers straight up.
00:21:48.940 Tell me, dude, there's no point in you even going to school because you're a fucking entrepreneur.
00:21:53.780 You know what I mean?
00:21:54.840 And I've had teachers that have pulled me aside and we've even went and had a beer when I was in college.
00:21:59.120 And we've had great discussions and developed great friendships that have really helped me change my perspective on different areas of my life.
00:22:07.240 The people who put in the extra time, the people who that's greatness.
00:22:11.040 You know what I mean?
00:22:11.600 So you could be great in any area.
00:22:13.260 I do believe.
00:22:13.920 But when I say great, I think I'm talking more about making a gigantic impact on people direct.
00:22:22.300 I mean, and they, people say this, oh, you're making a big impact.
00:22:25.060 Why?
00:22:25.240 Because you drive a Lamborghini and you make a lot of money.
00:22:27.360 No, but I do have a hundred employees that are all have a chance to be a part of something huge.
00:22:32.960 They all have a chance to earn a tremendous living, that all have a chance to put their kids through school, all have a chance to do all these things in a practical day-to-day, you know, operation.
00:22:45.580 You know what I mean?
00:22:46.220 Right.
00:22:46.500 Absolutely.
00:22:47.460 Another synonym that I think is good for what you're trying to say is greatness in the sense of if you're an entrepreneur, you want to do something rare, something that nobody else has done.
00:22:58.620 Not typical.
00:22:59.300 Let's talk about this.
00:23:00.040 Let's talk about this anyway.
00:23:01.080 Let's, let's hit it again on the teacher thing.
00:23:04.240 I want to be great.
00:23:05.780 All right.
00:23:06.380 You're becoming a great teacher.
00:23:09.880 What if you, which is rare.
00:23:12.040 Okay.
00:23:12.400 Great teacher is rare.
00:23:13.500 I'm sorry to say that.
00:23:14.640 That's true.
00:23:15.100 You know, and I know there's teachers that listen and they're going to say, dude, you sound like a jerk because these people dedicate their lot.
00:23:20.320 A lot of teachers do like to glorify their fucking job choice.
00:23:23.940 Okay.
00:23:24.300 They like to glorify it.
00:23:25.500 They say, oh, I became a teacher because I wanted to change the world.
00:23:29.460 And I wanted to help all these young kids and I wanted to blah, blah, blah.
00:23:32.680 But in reality, the reason they became a teacher was because they get to work fucking six months out of the year.
00:23:38.460 All right.
00:23:39.020 They got job security.
00:23:40.520 They don't have to do fucking a whole lot of work.
00:23:43.060 And that's why they became a teacher.
00:23:44.500 Right.
00:23:44.740 But they like to paint it with this fucking brush of like all glory.
00:23:48.580 And I'm so fucking good at heart and blah, blah, blah.
00:23:52.660 Bullshit.
00:23:53.180 I think you're right.
00:23:54.020 And what I know I'm right.
00:23:54.920 No, no.
00:23:55.280 I think you are.
00:23:55.980 And I know you are.
00:23:57.320 And my, uh, my roommate, you know, I just went to my 20 year college reunion.
00:24:01.440 My roommate went into becoming a public school teacher.
00:24:03.960 He just won like the best teacher award, you know, in their whole district.
00:24:09.480 And I was talking to his wife and I said, no, I'm so proud of him because, you know, I mean, he's a great guy, but he's not like a genius.
00:24:15.380 Right.
00:24:15.640 You know?
00:24:16.220 And she said to me, she said, I mean, he knows his stuff, but he said, but she said to me, he's rare because he cares.
00:24:23.380 That's right.
00:24:23.920 He cares.
00:24:24.480 That's right.
00:24:24.840 But caring is rare in any area of life.
00:24:27.640 Yeah.
00:24:27.980 Okay.
00:24:28.660 I don't, my, my charity of choice is my high school, which is St. John Vianney high school here in St. Louis.
00:24:34.900 Chris and I have donated a lot of money to that high school.
00:24:37.600 My business partner, Chris, um, otherwise known as El Ghosto on Periscope because he never wants to see his picture taken.
00:24:44.060 So El Ghosto and I have donated quite a bit of money to our high school over the last few years as we've become more fortunate ourselves.
00:24:52.500 And we don't really give to too many other charities and we give a little bit here and there, but that's what we give.
00:24:56.940 And the reason is, is because I had teachers that fucking cared about me there.
00:25:01.380 Every teacher in that school cared about us.
00:25:04.140 Okay.
00:25:04.680 We didn't have these other teachers that are just trying to push people through.
00:25:07.940 We had people that would point their finger in your chest and say, you're fucking better than that.
00:25:13.240 And you better start showing it.
00:25:14.520 And I got my ass kicked all through high school figuratively and sometimes literally.
00:25:18.920 Cause back when I was in high school, that was allowed, but by people who cared.
00:25:23.700 And, and, and sometimes I hated these people, you know, I was like, God, these people are assholes.
00:25:29.320 But the reality is, is I wouldn't be sitting here if it wasn't for these people and they fucking cared about me.
00:25:34.660 And those kinds of people, they're some of the most noble people on earth.
00:25:39.980 So, I mean, I don't want to sit here and paint teachers with a broad brush.
00:25:42.680 Right.
00:25:42.860 But typically the ones that brag the most about how noble they are, the ones that fucking suck.
00:25:48.800 You know what I mean?
00:25:49.680 No, absolutely.
00:25:50.400 So, so a little bit of a cheesy analogy, but as you were talking, I was just, we were talking about how greatness is being rare, how great, how greatness is caring.
00:25:57.520 And to me, I love it that you guys, you've used, uh, around first form or us too, you've used that helmet, that Spartan helmet.
00:26:04.760 And that's a good analogy.
00:26:05.880 Like you have this massive Persian empire of, uh, that's comprised of people who basically are paid to be soldiers.
00:26:13.120 They're doing their thing.
00:26:14.240 Right.
00:26:14.460 But then you have the 300 Spartans who are passionate.
00:26:18.100 They care.
00:26:18.580 They want to change the world.
00:26:19.600 And so I think, I think that is the mentality, the difference in the mentality between, you know, being a good, dutiful worker and being a life changing entrepreneur.
00:26:30.800 Who's just great.
00:26:31.880 Being a great teacher is no different than being a great entrepreneur.
00:26:34.820 It's no fucking different.
00:26:36.360 It's coming in every single day.
00:26:38.160 It's giving a hundred percent of your heart.
00:26:40.260 It's giving a hundred percent of your energy.
00:26:42.220 It's giving a hundred percent of your caring and it's doing it every day for a long fucking time.
00:26:47.540 And if you do that as an entrepreneur, you're going to be successful.
00:26:50.240 You're going to make a gigantic impact.
00:26:51.700 And by successful, I don't mean money.
00:26:54.900 The more impact you make, the more opportunity to make money you will have.
00:26:58.480 And that goes for a teacher too.
00:27:00.320 What if you're a teacher who makes gigantic impact and pounds awesome lessons into people's heads and changes them.
00:27:06.460 And they become so reputable for being such a great teacher that they want to design their own program outside of school and sell it.
00:27:13.500 But now all of a sudden, because your impact that you made for X amount of years has created this reputation for you, people are willing to pay because of the impact you made.
00:27:23.620 You earn money.
00:27:24.560 It's really no different.
00:27:25.820 You know what I mean?
00:27:26.700 Absolutely.
00:27:27.240 So that's why entrepreneurship mentality is good for no matter what situation you're in.
00:27:35.260 And, you know, I use the analogy of digging ditches sometimes about have the entrepreneurial mindset for any job.
00:27:41.160 And they say, oh, Andy, but I dig ditches, blah, blah, blah.
00:27:45.380 How am I going to have an entrepreneurial mindset about digging ditches?
00:27:48.460 Well, here, how about this?
00:27:49.900 How about, A, you go out and you work fucking harder than everybody?
00:27:53.420 All right.
00:27:53.760 So let's say you're the low guy.
00:27:55.360 And the reason I use dig ditches, because usually that's like a laborer job.
00:27:58.020 It's a low guy on the totem pole.
00:27:59.880 Hey, new guy, go dig the fucking ditch.
00:28:01.580 All right.
00:28:01.740 That's where that comes from.
00:28:03.600 And you're the new guy.
00:28:05.520 You got to go out and dig ditches.
00:28:07.120 And you are in charge of digging the ditches.
00:28:09.360 And you've got five guys on your team.
00:28:11.300 You go out and you dig three times the amount of ditch that the four other guys dig every single day.
00:28:17.580 All right.
00:28:17.680 Eventually, the foreman of your crew is going to come along and he's going to say, hey, fuck.
00:28:21.340 That dude is hustling.
00:28:23.020 You know what?
00:28:23.540 I'm going to put him in charge of these other four guys.
00:28:25.700 All right.
00:28:25.980 There you create opportunity.
00:28:27.340 Now, let's say that doesn't happen.
00:28:29.140 Let's say that the guy never notices you.
00:28:30.900 But let's say you get so passionate about digging so much more ditch than anybody else that you develop a new tool that allows you to dig at three times the rate that the other four guys can dig.
00:28:44.620 Now, all of a sudden, you develop a product out of your passion for digging ditches faster than anybody else.
00:28:48.680 Now, you could take that and you could show other companies or consult them or sell them the product on how you could be more successful digging a ditch.
00:28:57.720 The point I'm trying to make here is that you don't think that way unless you have an entrepreneurial mindset of some sort and you've cultivated that thought process.
00:29:05.780 So, if you are a, no matter what job you are, whether you're a drywall painter, construction guy, teacher, public servant, firefighter, police officer, all of this shit, no matter what your job, if you take an entrepreneurial mindset that I'm in charge, I got to attack it with passion, your success rate is going to increase, your life is going to increase, your earnings is going to increase, and you're going to be in a better position than you were before you took that.
00:29:32.540 Now, we always have, you know, and the opposite of that is, hey, I go dig the ditch, which is most people's mindset.
00:29:41.240 I've got eight hours, I got to be here, I'm going to dig the least amount of ditch I can in eight hours because it's fucking hard.
00:29:47.480 That's most people's mindset.
00:29:48.980 Now, if you have, most people have in that mindset, and you have an entrepreneurial mindset, how much more of an advantage do you have, I mean, in terms of the regular person to be successful?
00:30:00.360 And people take that for granted.
00:30:02.520 Most people are fucking lazy.
00:30:05.660 Most people are trying to do the least amount of work.
00:30:09.460 Most people don't care.
00:30:12.560 And if you could separate yourself by doing that and having an entrepreneurial mindset, you're going to make it no matter where it is.
00:30:21.800 So.
00:30:23.000 Absolutely.
00:30:23.860 So this is a little selfish, but I'm also going to share this by way of thanking you.
00:30:27.060 I love what you said about if you have an entrepreneurial mindset, you separate yourself, and you're going to be good at no matter what you do.
00:30:33.480 So my undergraduate degree is in rhetoric and composition.
00:30:38.220 And my master's, I mean, I got a master's in seminary, but I also got a master's in English, okay?
00:30:43.080 So those are two degrees that are almost laughable when people say, oh, you're never going to make any money.
00:30:49.760 You're an English major.
00:30:50.980 You're, you know, so just get used to a life of, you know, you might be changing people's lives, but you're not going to make any money.
00:30:57.640 Well, about the time you and I became friends, I decided to get entrepreneurial in my mindset and say, like, no, I can be, I can think business minded.
00:31:07.060 I can think in a business way about this whole concept of writing and creating content.
00:31:12.280 Well, on Monday, and again, thanks in part to you, but on Monday, I'm flying out to South Carolina to speak to a bunch of English majors saying, yeah, you can make really good money writing.
00:31:25.380 You just have to have an entrepreneurial mindset.
00:31:27.440 I'm going to be able to tell them that since I started my own LLC, I have literally, I'm just about to make six figures over the last almost year and a half, all in related things having to do with related to writing.
00:31:42.380 Yeah, which you weren't making that work for someone else.
00:31:44.060 No, I wasn't making that work for someone else.
00:31:46.160 And the point is that I think relative to what you're, you know, the first point you made.
00:31:49.700 We haven't even started this.
00:31:50.840 This is fucking baby.
00:31:51.860 No, this is nothing, right, right.
00:31:53.320 And I think the, but the point, your first point, and how do you know is you're an entrepreneur.
00:31:59.160 Your first point in how you know you're an entrepreneur is, do you want to do something different?
00:32:03.740 Do you want to do something great?
00:32:04.980 Do you have a bigger vision?
00:32:06.780 And I, you know, people can argue and get offended all they want, but that is a distinguishing feature of people who want to run their own business.
00:32:14.960 And I don't want this to get lost in what you just said, because I know that it's true, but you just didn't say it.
00:32:19.020 But you also thought long and hard and strategically about how you could use your skills to create value for other people.
00:32:26.000 Sure, sure.
00:32:26.740 Yes.
00:32:26.820 Okay.
00:32:27.180 So remember, that's like the key core concept of being an entrepreneur.
00:32:32.220 How could I create value for other people and knowing that it will eventually turn into a monetization type situation.
00:32:40.300 Right.
00:32:40.600 So you didn't say that, but I know we've talked about that.
00:32:42.760 Absolutely.
00:32:43.340 Absolutely.
00:32:43.700 So, so we covered that.
00:32:45.120 All right.
00:32:45.300 You're not satisfied with the regular shit.
00:32:47.120 All right.
00:32:47.420 You're not satisfied being a regular Joe.
00:32:49.800 So let's get back on track here.
00:32:51.280 Let's get, let's, let's hit another point.
00:32:53.320 Okay.
00:32:53.540 Do you prefer struggling and being successful, even if it takes you a lot of time and effort and sweat and, and pain, or do you prefer being average, being safe, being mediocre, you know, and having the regular life?
00:33:10.600 And you have to ask yourself that honestly, you can't, you know, just say, Oh yeah, I want the, I want the, the big money.
00:33:18.400 Everybody wants the fucking money, but there's a lot of things that have to happen for the money to happen.
00:33:22.860 And if you don't love those things too, if you're not in love with the process, if you're not passionate about putting in the work, passionate about developing the ideas, passionate about executing, the money will never come.
00:33:34.760 So it's just too hard.
00:33:36.280 You can't just say, Oh yeah, I want, I want the big house and I want the cars and I want the travel and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
00:33:41.540 That's, that's 2% of the entrepreneur equation.
00:33:44.660 The rest of it fucking sucks.
00:33:46.220 And you have to love that suck.
00:33:48.100 You know, don't, if you're tough, if you're someone who, who prefers to take the easy road, you know, over going out and trying to risk something or trying to build something in the face of being afraid of it, being an entrepreneur is not going to be for you, man.
00:34:06.900 You know, entrepreneurs embrace the struggle, they take risks, they deal with the chaos and the uncertainty on it every single day, every single hour, every single minute basis.
00:34:17.320 You know, they embrace this process because they know that's the only road to success.
00:34:22.920 You said this earlier and it's something you've said again and again, you said, you mentioned risk earlier about taking risks and you said that the way that truly successful entrepreneurs think is they don't think, Oh, what's going to happen if I take this risk?
00:34:36.900 They think, what's going to happen if I don't take this?
00:34:39.660 Exactly.
00:34:40.480 Yeah, exactly.
00:34:43.800 Man, I could go off on like a whole nother podcast about this, but society grooms us to be afraid and they groom us to think that success and entrepreneurship and all these things.
00:34:53.880 And when I say success, I'm talking financial success right now.
00:34:56.640 They groom us to think that these things are for other people and they also groom us to have this fucking idea that like for you to go out and do something that you've got to be like certified or you've got to have this like approval or you've got to be like, you know, you've got to get the special wink and a special handshake from the fucking secret, the secret group, the skulls.
00:35:15.700 You know, there's an expert.
00:35:16.940 Right, exactly.
00:35:17.980 And there's not, man.
00:35:18.980 You've just got to go out and you've got to fucking execute.
00:35:21.060 And eventually people will come to you for approval, which is funny to me because people like that's the emails I get now.
00:35:27.160 You know, it's emails.
00:35:28.020 When I went to meet Gary Vee and we talked about about we talked about some of the emails that we get from people and it's like they're looking for this approval.
00:35:36.540 They're looking for this like, you know, it's a validation.
00:35:42.080 Yeah, yeah, validation.
00:35:43.460 Exactly.
00:35:44.100 Thank you.
00:35:45.120 They're looking for validation of their idea or of their mission or of are they good enough to do this?
00:35:52.100 And like it's very frustrating because there is no validation process.
00:35:57.160 There isn't.
00:35:58.100 The validation process, the only validation process there is in entrepreneurship is the one where you look yourself in the mirror and you say, is this for me?
00:36:05.900 That's it.
00:36:06.640 Yeah.
00:36:06.800 You know, you know what you just said could be a really awesome short periscope.
00:36:12.880 There is no validation process.
00:36:14.360 Yeah.
00:36:14.600 Let me put that in my notes here real quick.
00:36:16.240 I love that.
00:36:16.860 Because I want to I want to actually write that down because I want to write.
00:36:20.700 I want to do a periscope.
00:36:21.400 Yeah.
00:36:21.860 Yeah.
00:36:23.700 So, yeah.
00:36:24.400 So, you know, are you OK with feeling uncomfortable?
00:36:29.060 Are you OK with living uncertain?
00:36:30.680 Are you OK with not knowing if you could pay your fucking bills for a long time?
00:36:36.620 Yeah.
00:36:37.140 I don't want to get off on too much of a tangent, but I'm curious about something.
00:36:41.640 Do you feel like our society is guilty of sending a schizophrenic message?
00:36:46.360 Because on the one hand, you're right.
00:36:48.600 They do teach us to be afraid.
00:36:50.220 They teach us that we need a validation.
00:36:51.960 We need we need some other expert to to to approve of what we do.
00:36:55.680 But then on the other side of their mouth, they're saying you can do anything you want.
00:36:59.800 You're special.
00:37:00.680 You see what I'm saying?
00:37:02.220 How do you navigate?
00:37:03.140 How do you navigate?
00:37:03.980 Dude, look, there are extreme messages.
00:37:05.920 I just don't.
00:37:07.820 I, you know, if I'm a young man or young woman right now and I'm like, you have to choose
00:37:13.220 what to listen to, you know, you have to choose what to believe.
00:37:16.100 I think that there's truth to to to, you know, there's truth to that to certain people.
00:37:21.320 We just talked about certain people were meant to work in a warehouse.
00:37:24.040 Certain people were meant to work in structure.
00:37:25.640 Certain people were meant to, you know, have a regular job.
00:37:28.800 Certain people were meant to have commissioned sales jobs.
00:37:31.160 Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
00:37:32.520 We just said that.
00:37:33.200 Right.
00:37:33.460 Right.
00:37:33.760 So that message that you just said is true for some people.
00:37:37.500 Right.
00:37:37.780 You know what I mean?
00:37:38.180 It is true.
00:37:39.220 Some people operate better in a structure.
00:37:41.720 Some people operate better in a structure that's designed by somebody else.
00:37:45.040 Some people would rather be more comfortable in the structure of a of another company where
00:37:50.860 they could say, you know, hey, this is what you do and you get paid.
00:37:54.700 Some people are meant for that and there's nothing wrong with that.
00:37:57.820 Our goal here is to get you to analyze yourself to become self-aware of how much percentage of
00:38:06.080 entrepreneur DNA do I fucking have?
00:38:09.520 OK.
00:38:09.940 You could go out and find this out really easily.
00:38:15.280 Go out, set up a fucking lemonade stand at the end of your driveway.
00:38:20.140 OK.
00:38:21.740 If you could do that for a weekend and you talk to 20, 30, 40 people over the course of a weekend,
00:38:27.280 if you enjoy talking to those people, if you enjoy making sales, if you enjoy conversating and making new
00:38:35.940 friends with those people, you're probably going to enjoy being an entrepreneur.
00:38:39.820 OK.
00:38:40.980 But most people can't even fucking do that.
00:38:44.020 Most will sit here and we'll say, hey, this is what this means.
00:38:47.280 You know, we did the episode on the power list on killing every day and we did.
00:38:50.800 We give all these practical tips.
00:38:52.840 And you know what?
00:38:54.040 Most people don't fucking even do them.
00:38:56.420 They're success zombies.
00:38:58.020 And most of the people that listen to the show right now, most of them won't do the shit that we say.
00:39:03.460 They just listen.
00:39:05.020 And I'm sorry if you're listening, but am I fucking true?
00:39:08.720 How many of you guys are implementing the power list on a daily basis?
00:39:13.020 You know what I mean?
00:39:14.000 That's yeah, you're right.
00:39:15.740 It's all talk and no action.
00:39:17.220 Right.
00:39:17.620 And that's what it comes down to being an entrepreneur as well.
00:39:20.140 You fucking you don't just listen and take notes.
00:39:22.900 You go out and you execute.
00:39:24.320 And that's where people have problems.
00:39:26.340 So, you know.
00:39:28.680 And it's like what you said.
00:39:30.140 The last point being risk is that I tell you what, there is there is something that there's safety when you're part of the choir that you have that kind of safety that you don't.
00:39:41.140 If you're the director of the choir, you know, I mean, those are two different vantage points.
00:39:45.160 It's perceived safety.
00:39:46.340 Yeah.
00:39:46.960 You know what I mean?
00:39:47.720 It's all how you perceive shit.
00:39:50.040 You know, if you're the conductor of the choir, you're the one making the decisions.
00:39:54.900 You're in control.
00:39:57.400 You know, I would rather have that safety.
00:39:59.440 Yeah.
00:40:00.200 Then.
00:40:01.800 Then being the person in the choir that can be replaced because they can't fucking, you know, sing.
00:40:07.600 Yeah.
00:40:08.200 Well, and that that that is interesting.
00:40:10.460 I mean, that's a safety that's based on you being in control.
00:40:13.120 So that's that's probably something that's hugely part of.
00:40:17.360 Right.
00:40:17.640 Whether someone's meant to be an entrepreneur or not is.
00:40:20.160 Do you want to be in control?
00:40:21.560 Right.
00:40:22.180 And are you comfortable making decisions that affect other people?
00:40:26.200 Can you do that?
00:40:27.960 You know what I mean?
00:40:29.160 Yeah.
00:40:29.460 So moving on, you know, trying to keep this on track because I don't want to just keep beating the same thing over and over again.
00:40:36.900 But, you know, what you just said brings up a good point.
00:40:41.680 You know, do you want do you want to be in control?
00:40:44.440 Do you want to be your own quote unquote boss?
00:40:47.380 Not because you're full of ego and you want to walk around and be like, I'm the fucking boss.
00:40:51.060 Like half the boss is out there.
00:40:52.980 Right.
00:40:53.420 OK.
00:40:53.980 Or more than half, honestly.
00:40:56.200 But because you have a vision for what you want to accomplish that is yours and no one else's.
00:41:01.480 OK.
00:41:01.880 You have your vision.
00:41:03.240 You have your dream.
00:41:04.160 You have your goals for what you want to see built and what you want to see materialize.
00:41:09.540 And it's important for you to see those things happen.
00:41:12.940 OK.
00:41:13.320 You have a solution.
00:41:14.680 You have an idea.
00:41:16.180 You have a product that can help improve society or can help solve a problem or can help, you know, X, Y, Z do X, Y, Z.
00:41:25.500 And you want to see that implemented because you want to see it implemented.
00:41:29.600 OK.
00:41:29.900 And you know that if you could do that, the money will come, the growth will come, the business will come, and it's important for you to accomplish that goal.
00:41:39.160 It's not about being in charge or bossing people around or walking around, you know, saying, yeah, I'm the boss.
00:41:45.980 Get to fucking work.
00:41:46.960 Because like you said, ultimately, that's not even really true.
00:41:49.680 No.
00:41:49.980 I mean, you're still beholden to other people.
00:41:52.500 Dude, if you're not, you're a terrible business owner and terrible leader.
00:41:55.920 Right.
00:41:56.060 You know what I mean?
00:41:56.880 Yeah.
00:41:57.140 But like I said, most people who are in charge of their businesses are out of touch with this concept.
00:42:06.220 But, you know, it's just that.
00:42:08.340 It's not about pushing people around.
00:42:09.560 It's about having the freedom to execute on your dreams, your visions, and what you want to accomplish in your mission and your life.
00:42:18.220 You know?
00:42:18.620 And that's what it comes down to.
00:42:20.280 A lot of people think, oh, I'm the boss.
00:42:22.860 I'm the boss.
00:42:23.460 I want to be the boss.
00:42:24.100 That's because the boss is like glorified.
00:42:26.060 You know, it's glorified in media.
00:42:27.480 You got Donald Trump.
00:42:28.620 You're fired.
00:42:29.300 Right.
00:42:29.520 Right.
00:42:29.640 You know, everybody like thinks there's some kind of glory to that.
00:42:32.020 And that's like a caricature of what being a boss is.
00:42:38.880 Right.
00:42:39.200 You know what I mean?
00:42:39.880 Right.
00:42:40.540 It's like pretty much the exact opposite.
00:42:42.260 You've mentioned the guy.
00:42:42.880 Like I'm pretty much everybody's bitch around here.
00:42:45.320 That's the honest to God's truth.
00:42:46.740 That's the quote of the episode.
00:42:47.820 Yeah.
00:42:48.240 Like if you're not comfortable being your customer's bitch and being your employee's bitch, then you're probably not going to be a good boss.
00:42:54.940 You mean you're not the boss and Christmas vacation?
00:42:57.660 Right.
00:42:57.860 Exactly.
00:42:59.040 Dude.
00:43:00.060 That's great.
00:43:00.900 Jelly in the Moth Club.
00:43:01.900 Yeah.
00:43:02.320 I love the word you use, freedom.
00:43:05.500 You know, entrepreneurs, I think, love freedom.
00:43:07.840 And, you know, it is a paradox.
00:43:09.400 It's because you're right.
00:43:10.960 You are.
00:43:11.440 It's a different sort of freedom.
00:43:12.400 It's not freedom in the sense that's glorified out there in the media.
00:43:17.400 You can just do whatever you want.
00:43:18.740 Right.
00:43:19.040 Oh, I'm sitting on the beach with a fucking Corona.
00:43:20.820 Right.
00:43:21.320 That's not the freedom you get.
00:43:23.400 But you do have the freedom to make decisions.
00:43:26.160 And you do have the freedom to design your own path.
00:43:28.840 And you do have freedom to be creative.
00:43:32.000 And those things are all important if you're an entrepreneur.
00:43:35.820 You know, you have freedom to do things your way.
00:43:38.520 And that's what it comes down to.
00:43:40.160 You know what I mean?
00:43:40.960 And if you're one of these people who is not comfortable doing that, you are like 0% entrepreneur.
00:43:46.740 And what's interesting is that having the freedom to do that is scary.
00:43:51.380 I mean, I don't know if you've ever heard anything about, like, some of these countries that were under totalitarian dictators.
00:43:56.920 And then they were liberated.
00:43:58.360 And then, like, 5, 10 years later, they went back under it because they're like.
00:44:02.420 That's what they're comfortable with.
00:44:02.980 That's what they're comfortable with.
00:44:03.940 That's what they were used to.
00:44:05.100 And so I think there's some of that involved in entrepreneurialism.
00:44:07.840 Dude, it's the same thing with people that go to prison.
00:44:09.820 People that go to prison, they get used to that structure.
00:44:12.800 They get used to the way it is.
00:44:13.900 It sounds crazy to you and me.
00:44:16.760 But they get out and they want to go back.
00:44:18.660 Right.
00:44:19.100 Because now, all of a sudden, they're in charge.
00:44:21.260 And, like, they're not comfortable being in charge.
00:44:24.220 Right.
00:44:24.880 And that's okay.
00:44:25.920 I mean, it's pretty profound.
00:44:27.540 But, I mean, it's very applicable to this whole business and entrepreneur thing.
00:44:32.460 Well, and our goal is to get people to open their eyes.
00:44:35.260 Like, hey, is this a good idea that I do this?
00:44:37.200 Because everybody has fucking ideas.
00:44:39.460 Everybody.
00:44:40.340 Right.
00:44:40.580 If you're listening right now, you have had ideas that are multimillion dollar ideas.
00:44:45.280 But in the reality of earth, in the reality of world, and the reality of business, ideas don't mean fucking shit.
00:44:52.840 It's about your ability to execute on those ideas.
00:44:55.180 It's about your ability to visualize and dream and design a structure and then execute on that structure.
00:45:01.280 It's about your ability to sell people on the idea of your vision, of your dream, and get them to believe so that they'll work for you.
00:45:08.740 It's about learning how to be a good leader.
00:45:11.840 It's about all these different things.
00:45:13.740 It's about becoming a problem solver and having certain skills and knowledge about many different areas of business.
00:45:22.300 You know, you've got to learn how to – you've got to know some graphic design about what shit should look like.
00:45:26.700 You've got to know, you know, some accounting.
00:45:29.780 You've got to know how to manage inventory.
00:45:31.680 You've got to know – I mean, there's just a trillion – you've got to know a little bit of HR.
00:45:36.220 You've got to know how to communicate.
00:45:37.880 You've got – it's just – you have to know about everything, and certain people just aren't capable of doing that.
00:45:43.240 And be committed – if you don't know about everything, you've got to be –
00:45:45.520 You've got to be committed to learning it.
00:45:46.540 Right, exactly.
00:45:47.740 So, greatness, you know, an entrepreneur wants to be great.
00:45:53.440 An entrepreneur embraces a struggle.
00:45:55.380 An entrepreneur, you know, wants to take risks.
00:45:58.620 An entrepreneur loves the freedom to cast vision and take ownership.
00:46:02.480 Well, let's face it.
00:46:04.540 It's about money, right?
00:46:07.020 Hey, man.
00:46:08.540 Look, if you're one of these people who thinks that money is a bad thing and thinks that people who make money are evil
00:46:13.560 and thinks that, you know, you're going to be an entrepreneur so you can save the fucking earth and all this other shit,
00:46:20.320 you're not an entrepreneur.
00:46:21.440 Right.
00:46:21.800 You know what I'm saying?
00:46:22.860 Entrepreneurs enjoy making money.
00:46:24.780 So, I was being facetious.
00:46:25.920 No, I get it.
00:46:26.380 But how would you – what's the best way to think about money in terms of it's –
00:46:30.980 Okay, as much as entrepreneurs like money and, like, they like – you know, because, dude, you've got to remember,
00:46:36.540 most entrepreneurs spend a whole lot of time broke.
00:46:39.580 Mm-hmm.
00:46:40.320 Okay?
00:46:40.800 Yeah.
00:46:41.060 So, when you get some money coming in, you're going to fucking do shit that you've been, like – that you want to enjoy.
00:46:47.460 Mm-hmm.
00:46:47.820 All right?
00:46:48.620 So, that's why people drive nice cars and fucking wear nice watches and go on nice vacations, live in a nice house and shit.
00:46:54.400 It's not because they need it.
00:46:55.740 It's because it's like an overcompensation for the time they spent eating ramen noodles.
00:47:00.060 Right.
00:47:00.300 You know what I'm saying?
00:47:01.320 So, like, it's like back pay.
00:47:03.840 You know what I mean?
00:47:04.400 Yeah, absolutely.
00:47:05.000 So, like, you know, yes, entrepreneurs like making money, but they also understand a very important concept regarding, quote-unquote, making money.
00:47:15.220 You don't fucking make money.
00:47:16.620 Okay?
00:47:17.040 You earn money.
00:47:18.540 Mm-hmm.
00:47:18.900 Money is a byproduct.
00:47:20.600 It's not the product of your business.
00:47:22.860 It's a byproduct of the value you create.
00:47:25.760 It's a byproduct of the problems you solve.
00:47:28.140 You're not an entrepreneur because of money.
00:47:30.060 You're an entrepreneur because you want to solve a problem.
00:47:32.960 You want to be good.
00:47:34.520 You want to create value, and you want to fucking win every single day.
00:47:39.180 Okay?
00:47:39.720 And if that's not you, if you're this person who just wants the money, and you think that the money is just part of being an entrepreneur, dude, you're not a fucking entrepreneur.
00:47:47.980 An entrepreneur is about the fight.
00:47:49.420 It's about the battle.
00:47:50.220 It's about the grind.
00:47:51.380 It's about the hustle.
00:47:52.380 And you've got to love that shit.
00:47:53.800 And if you don't love it, it doesn't matter how good your idea is or how good your product is or how good this is because it's going to take so long for you to get to a point where you're actually turning a profit and earning money that you're going to burn out.
00:48:08.620 You're not going to make it.
00:48:10.080 You know?
00:48:10.400 So, yes, it's about money, but not the way most people think.
00:48:13.080 And what you've also said a billion times is if you do make it about money, the minute you really actually start making something, your motivation is going to go to the toilet.
00:48:21.380 Exactly.
00:48:22.240 Exactly.
00:48:23.160 So, and I see that happen a lot.
00:48:24.700 I mean, you can definitely get to a minimal level of success being all about the money.
00:48:29.860 You know what I mean?
00:48:30.280 Being an entrepreneur.
00:48:31.040 But the reality is, is that effort that you're thinking about the money should be effort spent focusing on how you can make your product better, how you can solve a problem, how you can create a better service, how you can create more impact on more people.
00:48:44.240 And when you take the focus away from the money and you focus on that, that's when the money comes.
00:48:48.660 And every successful entrepreneur understands that.
00:48:51.440 They don't think, oh, I'm going to start this business.
00:48:52.800 It's going to make so much money.
00:48:53.860 They think, oh, I'm going to start this business.
00:48:55.040 It's going to solve this problem.
00:48:56.980 I'm going to start this business.
00:48:57.900 It's going to make people say, holy shit.
00:48:59.680 I'm going to start this business, and it's going to improve this area of people's lives.
00:49:03.580 Or I'm going to start this.
00:49:04.380 I'm going to invent this product, and it's going to change the world.
00:49:07.140 And the money comes.
00:49:08.680 You know what I'm saying?
00:49:09.660 Absolutely.
00:49:09.980 I mean, there's another interesting periscope.
00:49:14.240 is how a little bit of success can actually prevent you from having big success.
00:49:21.420 I mean, I love what you just said.
00:49:23.440 I mean, you get a little bit of money, and then it actually ends up becoming detrimental.
00:49:27.380 Because you're like, oh, this is great.
00:49:29.060 I'm going to go enjoy the fruits of my labor.
00:49:31.180 And then you're like, you think you've made it.
00:49:32.820 Well, dude, and I think most people have that in them.
00:49:34.900 You think so?
00:49:35.420 Yes.
00:49:35.920 I think very few people.
00:49:37.560 That's why you see so many middle-sized small businesses.
00:49:40.460 Because they make just enough to live a little bit better than other people, and a little bit better than what they were.
00:49:48.840 And then that's comfortable.
00:49:50.040 But here's the problem with that.
00:49:51.380 When you become comfortable, and you stop working, and you stop grinding, you stop hustling, the people who are chasing you will pass you.
00:49:57.400 And then that little comfort that you created, and your little BMW 5 Series that you bought, and your upper middle class home in suburban America, that shit's going to go away.
00:50:08.460 You know what I mean?
00:50:09.360 Absolutely.
00:50:09.900 So you've got to go all the way, or fucking go none of the way.
00:50:13.420 Don't go in the middle.
00:50:14.320 Because that's like a terrible place to be.
00:50:15.740 Because when you're in the middle there, you're in that minimal success.
00:50:18.460 Oh, I'm doing okay.
00:50:20.440 I've got a cool car.
00:50:22.400 You know, I'm fucking, I'm balling at the fucking bar on Saturday night, and I could buy a $500 dinner.
00:50:28.380 And you think, maybe you've got a boat, maybe you've got a lake house.
00:50:31.060 Who knows?
00:50:32.080 But you're not fucking Donald Trump.
00:50:33.960 Right.
00:50:34.520 Okay?
00:50:34.960 And you're that guy that's comfortable in that zone, and you're not moving, you're going to fucking lose what you have.
00:50:39.300 I really believe that a lot of people, maybe the majority of the people who are listening, deep in their hearts, don't believe what you're saying when you say, listen, you get to a point where, you know, having a Lamborghini or having a big, nice car, that's not going to be enough.
00:50:55.120 And if that's what you're driven by, it's just not going to, I don't think, I don't honestly think people believe you when you say that.
00:51:00.080 But that's something you learn, because I wouldn't have believed that before I earned those things as well.
00:51:05.140 But I'll be honest with you, you know, like, those things to me, like, I could care less if I had them or not now.
00:51:12.560 I just, it's not about that.
00:51:14.780 Well, there are exceptions to this, but if you think about the people that are, I mean, think about, like, Bill Gates and then the way, you know, the late Steve Jobs, and you've said this before, it comes to a point where you've got enough money, but there's never a time where you've done enough good.
00:51:30.640 Right.
00:51:30.820 You can always do more good for the world.
00:51:33.040 You can always create more amazing things for the world.
00:51:36.320 And that's why that has to ultimately be your motivation as an entrepreneur, because if it's not, it's like you said, you had that moment where you had that sort of that gut check in your own life where you were watching Pacific Rim for 34 times or whatever, and you said.
00:51:48.120 Look, and there is people, I agree with you, but there is people out there just fucking greedy.
00:51:51.640 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:51:52.760 There's greed out there.
00:51:53.940 For sure.
00:51:54.180 But the reality is, is that the greedy, the greed era is coming to a close because of what we've talked about when we talked about small town, when we talked on the small town America episode, you know, the greed era is coming to a close where people just can't fucking do shit for money anymore.
00:52:10.460 There's got to be value created.
00:52:11.720 There's got to be problem solved.
00:52:13.740 There's got to be things more than just I'm doing this to make money.
00:52:16.940 Otherwise, it's going to be temporary, you know, and people argue that they'll argue with me.
00:52:21.760 And I just I usually don't even argue back because I'm like, this guy doesn't fucking get it.
00:52:24.840 You know what I mean?
00:52:25.540 Like one of the things my dad taught me was, you know, don't wrestle with pigs because you get covered in shit and the pigs like it.
00:52:32.700 Right.
00:52:32.920 You know what I mean?
00:52:33.440 Right.
00:52:33.680 Right.
00:52:33.960 So like phrase I heard is a bulldog can whip a skunk any day, but it just ain't worth it.
00:52:39.300 Right.
00:52:39.660 Exactly, man.
00:52:40.620 You know, so like, you know, you don't see me arguing with people on Instagram or the Internet because honestly, I don't give a fuck.
00:52:45.680 If you don't get it, you don't get it.
00:52:46.980 Yeah.
00:52:47.480 You know what I mean?
00:52:48.120 Yeah.
00:52:48.460 So, but yeah, to close it out, you know, guys, look, we're getting the point of this episode.
00:52:55.340 I mean, we've been a little bit all over the place regarding entrepreneurship.
00:52:58.300 There's a couple of points that I want to leave you guys with to think about.
00:53:01.380 Number one, not everybody is an entrepreneur and that's okay.
00:53:05.000 There's nothing wrong with it.
00:53:06.180 The media glorifies it like it's this awesome thing that everybody should be.
00:53:10.200 And if you're not an entrepreneur, you're a fucking loser.
00:53:11.980 Well, just remember, 20 years ago, it was the opposite.
00:53:14.740 If you're an entrepreneur, that means you're a dropout.
00:53:16.980 You're going to be a piece of shit.
00:53:18.940 You know, you're probably living in your mom's basement.
00:53:21.860 And it's just not, it's not what they make it seem to be.
00:53:25.000 You know, you're just seeing now Instagram and Facebook and like all these things glorify this thing called entrepreneurship.
00:53:32.180 When in reality, guys, you're seeing the 2% or the 5% of it.
00:53:36.180 That's awesome.
00:53:36.920 And you're in, and you don't take into consideration 95%, which is fucking hard work.
00:53:42.060 Very hard.
00:53:43.300 Okay.
00:53:43.660 And it's scary work and it's, it's, and it takes a special kind of person.
00:53:48.120 Not everybody has it and that's okay.
00:53:50.380 If you don't have it, you could still benefit in your position in life by learning how to think like an entrepreneur,
00:53:57.040 which is to constantly come at your task and at your company or at your organization with an idea of how do I improve?
00:54:08.000 How do I make this better?
00:54:09.100 How do I get more done and be more productive in the amount of time I have?
00:54:13.220 Because if you're in that mindset, you are going to create more value, which is going to create more, more value for you,
00:54:20.600 which is going to ultimately command more pay for you, which is going to increase your lifestyle.
00:54:26.540 You know, I always tell my guys every time we meet, you know, if you're one of these people who sits in the back corner of a, of a, of an organization and trying to figure out how to like get out of work and all this shit,
00:54:37.360 you know, who are you really screwing over?
00:54:40.760 Are you screwing over the company?
00:54:42.200 Are you screwing over yourself?
00:54:43.620 Because the reality is, is what you do on a daily basis is going to create habits and they're going to be good habits or they're going to be bad habits.
00:54:50.000 And I have not seen one person ever in the history of my experience of business be a half aster in our company or a fucking lazy, you know,
00:54:58.920 motherfucker in our company who has gone from our company and then all of a sudden made success of themselves somewhere else.
00:55:05.520 And people have the idea and they have the mentality of blaming them, the company for their position.
00:55:11.500 When in reality, it's your fucking responsibility, whatever position you're in.
00:55:16.220 Okay.
00:55:16.500 You should be glad that you have a position to fill and you should come in at every day with passion, thinking of how to be more productive,
00:55:23.960 how to add more value to your company so that you can earn more and move forward in your career and ultimately create productive habits in yourself,
00:55:33.460 what you're going to improve your life.
00:55:36.120 Okay.
00:55:37.280 And that's what being an entrepreneur inside an organization means.
00:55:40.400 So even though you may not, your name might not be on the building and you might not fucking have the magazine articles written about you,
00:55:47.380 you're still an entrepreneur of you.
00:55:50.400 Everybody has some sort of entrepreneurial DNA.
00:55:53.200 And unless it's 75, 70, 75%, you probably shouldn't aspire to be the dude with the name on his building.
00:56:00.700 Cause it's fucking really hard.
00:56:02.520 But what you should aspire to do is to be the person who is the ultimate value added person within an organization.
00:56:10.140 And you know what?
00:56:11.540 You can make damn good money doing that.
00:56:14.140 You can live a damn good life doing that.
00:56:16.260 Absolutely.
00:56:16.640 I know guys that make millions of dollars a year being a super fucking value added person inside an organization because they took their role serious.
00:56:26.780 And those guys also understand, those guys I'm talking about that make millions of dollars a year within an organization,
00:56:31.700 they understand that they're not the kind of person that should go out and fucking start their own thing.
00:56:36.640 You see what I mean?
00:56:38.020 But to your point, the key is you've got to figure out what kind of person you are.
00:56:42.740 Exactly.
00:56:43.060 If you're an entrepreneur, then kill it.
00:56:45.780 But if you're not, get out.
00:56:47.940 Pretty much.
00:56:49.000 Yeah.
00:56:49.280 You know, so listen guys, I'm going to wrap it up here.
00:56:52.840 I think we've given you guys enough to think about.
00:56:55.820 Real quick, I want to say thank you guys so much for the support with the MSEO project.
00:57:01.500 You know, like as we talked in the beginning of the episode, I just got back from our first workshop that we've done.
00:57:05.740 Probably one of the top two coolest things that I've done as an entrepreneur in my life.
00:57:14.020 The first, the other or slash first one tied with would be Summer Smash that we did here at First Form where we had all our customers come out.
00:57:22.180 But totally productive weekend guys.
00:57:25.020 And I just want to say thanks for supporting what we're doing and being, you know, the lifeblood of what we're doing and actually just giving a fuck about what we have to say.
00:57:38.020 Because I wouldn't have been able to have that experience if you didn't.
00:57:41.380 We sold out all 50 spots like within a day.
00:57:45.400 And it was one of the most rewarding things I've ever done.
00:57:48.200 And I just hope that, I hope you guys will continue to support what we're doing.
00:57:52.740 And I just want to say thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for supporting us, leaving us reviews, recommending the podcast to friends, reposting us.
00:58:01.680 You know, it's just, it's starting to create a lot of momentum guys and it's a lot of fun.
00:58:06.940 And I think it's a lot of good too.
00:58:09.420 Absolutely.
00:58:09.820 And if you want to check out this episode on our website, it's themfceo.com forward slash P21.
00:58:17.180 Cool.
00:58:17.900 Yeah.
00:58:18.380 So good talk.
00:58:20.280 We will be back on Thursday.
00:58:23.480 I'm not sure what we have coming up on Thursday, but we'll be back on Thursday and we'll catch you then.
00:58:29.160 Take it easy, guys.
00:58:29.740 We'll be back on Thursday.