ASK ANDY： Choosing Partners, Slaying Giants - MFQA2
Episode Stats
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Summary
LL Cool J joins us to talk about his love of The MFC Project and how he would like to be on the show one day. We also talk about how we plan to get him on The CEO Project.
Transcript
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Hey guys, what's up? It's Andy and you're listening to the MF CEO project. This is the motherfucking
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CEO project and you're listening to it. Like I said a second ago, if you're a first time
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listener, I started my entrepreneurial journey at the age of 19 with $12,000 that I earned from
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painting the stripes on parking lots with my business partner, Chris. Um, 16 years later,
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we own multiple companies with combined revenue of over a hundred million dollars. This is an
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entrepreneurial show. Uh, we tell bad jokes, we say fuck pussy and shit. And if those things are
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not appealing to you, you might not want to listen. Um, I'm here with my cohost Vaughn
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Kohler. What's up, dude? I'm trying not to laugh. I'm just telling the truth. All right. Today
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we have a very special guest. I'm going to get kicked out of church. Hey man, today, just
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blame it on me. I don't care. Yeah. Today we have a very special guest. He's a big fan of
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the show. Um, his name is LL Cool J. You guys know him? Yeah. Yeah. I wish. Actually, we're
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just going to do Q and A's. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, hype everybody up, but, uh, I, I would
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love to have him on the show. He shares my stuff all the time on Instagram. Yeah. And
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LL, come on, man. Yeah. Let's get on. I found out recently that LL stands for something like
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ladies love. I didn't know that. Cool James. I didn't know that dude. He's the fucking
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man. I was listening to, um, I was listening on the way here. I drove the four. I drove the
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four today, the GT and I was listening to doing it on the way here. It was on a 100.3, the
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beat, which is old school, uh, hip hop and R&B here in St. Louis, which I love. Um, but
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anyhow, it was really cool. He started sharing my stuff and I wrote him a message. He wrote
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me back and like, I don't know, like I felt like, I was like, holy shit, this is awesome.
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Maybe you can be on that show. He's a, isn't he on some lip singing show? Like dude, no,
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but there's a, there's a cop show, right? Isn't he? Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I thought he
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was on that. So dude, LL's the man. Like the fact that he wrote me back, I mean, and you
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could tell it was him by what he said. Yeah. Just very genuine and humble dude. It was really
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fucking cool. Yeah. So if open invitation, yeah, that would be cool. Come on guys. Help
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us get the word out to LL. Yeah. So, uh, yeah. You know who else I'd like to have is the rock.
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The rock would be fucking awesome. Yeah. I looked, I looked into that. I know it's, yeah. It's
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like half a million dollars to my plan is to like, you know, eventually just become friends
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with them and then he'll do it for free. Yeah. That'd be awesome. Yeah. Who doesn't want
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to be friends with the rock? Seriously. Fucking awesome. Yeah. Yes. If you don't like the rock,
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there's something wrong. Had you already introduced the fact that this is not our typical. Yeah. This
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isn't our typical broadcast guys. We're going to hit some Q and A's. Um, which is what we're
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going to start doing now on Thursdays. I think that's going to be the day is Thursday. Yeah.
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We're going to start hitting some Q and A's. Uh, it's going to be a 20 to 25 minute cast. Um,
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and I guess in order for us to keep it at that, we better get started. Yeah. And I am,
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because we're early on in it, I'm just going to very, very quickly run through the pointers
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for, for getting your question answered on, on, uh, the MFCEO project. Three things. Number one,
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you're more likely to get your question answered. If your question is actually in the subject line.
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Number two, uh, understand that a lot of you guys have really awesome things to share,
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but keep the backstory like till later, just ask the question right up front and then say,
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okay, here's some backstory. And then finally do your best to try to make sure that we haven't
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already answered the, uh, the question on, on a podcast or really anywhere. Uh, because you know,
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that's a little repetitive. So with those pointers in mind, you know, obviously it's
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askandyatthemfceo.com. We're loving your questions. We really want to respond to all of them. Give us
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time because, uh, we're getting a lot of them, which is good. That's why we're at, that's actually
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why we're doing what we're doing. We're adding the Thursday podcast because we can't work them
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in on the Tuesday show. It's just too, it'll be too long. Yeah. So the first question, uh, is
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actually, you know, last, uh, episode I did this and this is, I'm going to do it again. Uh, this is a
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question that's been asked by a lot of people. Okay. So it's, it's not from any one person,
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but, uh, you obviously went into business with your best friend. Um, he's your business partner.
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So you knew a lot about him prior to forging this business partner relationship. But a lot of people
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are asking, how do you size up a potential business partner? Like, what do you look for?
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What are some red flags? Man, I could give my best answer to that. Obviously, you know,
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I've been very fortunate to have a tremendous business partner. Um, we work together very,
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very well. I will give you my best advice on this, but realize that I don't speak from experience
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on this because I, we started so young and it's just worked out. Um, I've seen so many businesses,
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you know, uh, people getting into business with their friends and it's just turns out to be a total
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clusterfuck, you know? And usually when I see it turn into a total clusterfuck, it's because
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both people are trying to play business. They're trying to be the man they're trying to own a
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business and say, Oh, I'm the CEO. And it just isn't about that. And you have to accept that from
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day one. So I would say, get somebody who is genuinely interested in being a business person and
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making a business, get up and run and do some shit in this world above being somebody who just
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wants somebody to put shine a light on them and say they're fucking because 99% of business is
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grueling, hard grunt work and make sure that that's the kind of guy you're getting into business with.
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You know, for me, you know, finding someone who, who likes to do and is good at the things that you
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are not good at is something that I think you would want to check first. Okay. First of all,
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do you like the person? Can you talk to the person? Do you have respect for the person? Do you
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get along with the person? Would you like to have a beer with the guy? You know, cause you're going
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to spend a lot of time together, right? Um, secondly, does this person bring skills or money
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or ability to grow a business in a way that you do not possess? Because there is no reason to bring a
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partner into business. If you possess all the things that he already brings to the table. A lot
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of people want to get into business because they think, Oh, it'd be cool to bring my friends along.
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And it is cool to bring your friends along, but you don't want to bring an unnecessary partner in
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just because you're excited about your business. You want to think this through. You want to make
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sure that it makes smart business sense for you. And if the person is bringing things that you
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already possess, you're likely not, not only are you giving up half of your, of your, um, equity,
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you know, or a portion of your equity, you're bringing in somebody that you're going to argue
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with over these same skills that you both possess. Okay. Which is not a good thing. So I like to align
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myself and I think it's best to align yourself with people who possess things that you do not have.
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Um, you know, and obviously core value character traits, you know, is this person a good moral
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person? Are they a thief? Are they a cheater? Did they get where they are, um, by doing things
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that are immoral? Because the reality is if they did, they're going to do those same things to you.
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You know, that always cracks me up about like dudes who like are women who, who are in marriages
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and they end up cheating with somebody. And like these two people that are married couples have
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an affair and they get married. Right. You know, and what the fuck do you, why would you do that?
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Yeah. You know, and then all of a sudden these people are out cheating again later and then
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they're surprised by it. Right. It's like, dude, come the fuck on. People show you who they are.
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Okay. So, um, make sure you're paying attention. I think that, you know, I think that's basically it,
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man. You know, I think that's, that's really all I could say about that. Yeah. You know?
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Yeah. No, that's good. I like it. All right. Well, hopefully that was no matter what,
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there's going to be a sense of risk to it. Okay. Like realize everything you do in business is
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going to have risk, including your business partner. You're there's a very good chance you
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might have a bad business relationship, but if you have the opportunity to do something great with
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somebody who possesses skills that you don't have, and you guys can forge together and create
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something great, don't stop just because you're afraid of what might happen bad. You know,
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fucking, you got to go at it. And when those bad things happen, you got to work through them.
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You know, Chris and I, we've had our, we have our disagreements, but the fact of the matter is,
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you know, he likes the shit that I don't like. I like the shit he doesn't like. Right. So it works.
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You know, um, he's good at things I'm not good at, and I'm good at things that he's not good at.
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So it works. And, and that's really, I'm, I've been, you know, somewhat lucky because it just
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worked out that that was really my first business partner, um, that it worked out that way. But I
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think a lot of that is learned too. You know, you kind of pick up what the other person doesn't like
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to do and you pick that up and you kind of just work together. It's, it's, uh, it's an interesting
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journey. It's going to be interesting no matter what. Makes sense. Yeah. Makes sense. Okay. Next
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question is by a guy named Matt Edwards. And this is what he says. He says, um, I've entered an
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industry that's dominated by one company controlling roughly 50% of the market share. They own the
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shelf space. If you were going into an industry that was controlled by one company, how would you
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do it? Almost all sales take place inside retailers, convenience stores, grocery stores,
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et cetera. If it were me, I would look at other avenues that these, that that company is not
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pursuing to sell your product. You know, we're in the age of technology when there's, there's,
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there's different avenues to distribute and sell your product every single day. Um, and I think a lot
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of people fall into the trap of seeing somebody be successful. For example, right now we have a brand
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we're talking about that owns 50% of the market. I don't know the product. Well, you know, it's
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funny. What can I say the product? I didn't realize when I read it. Oh, did he give the product? Yeah,
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he did. What is it? It's the Moab beef jerky guy. Oh, all right. Yeah. All right. Cool. And dude,
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Moab's good shit. All right, dude, here, look, I'll give you some advice. I tried Moab the other guy
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the other day. I fucking love it. All right. So what I would do is I would start looking into other
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avenues to promote your brand that would get tremendous word of mouth behind it. Find people
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who have a voice, find people who have the ability to influence other people and get them on the,
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on the Moab train, get them behind your product and get them talking about it, get them posting
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about it. And you'll create momentum, which will create demand, which will give you the ability
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to break into that space. Um, or at least you'll create a big enough disruption to where maybe,
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um, your competitor, which is Jack links. I already know it's going to come in and fucking
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buy you out. Okay. Which isn't a bad situation. Right. But either way you're creating value by
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being disruptive and you're creating, uh, maybe you create an innovative business model, how to move
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product, uh, that other companies aren't utilizing, you know, Jack's links isn't having, you know, the rock
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fucking use Jack links and post a picture of it on the fucking Instagram. Right. Maybe you try something
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like that. At least that we know of. I don't, I don't, I'm just saying they're, they're traditional
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business, you know? So you're a small business. You've got to think of your advantages. You're
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fluid. You're able to change. You're able to do things that they cannot do. So be resourceful.
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You know, you have a great product by the way. I fucking love the product. Yeah. No, I had it too.
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It was really good. I had the teriyaki. Yeah. So Matt, like, dude, you've got an awesome product.
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You have a product and I, and I've, I eat a ton of Jack's links. I it's on the list. Yeah. I mean,
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it's every bit as good as that, if not better. So in fact, you know what, dude, I actually think
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it is a lot better. It's softer. It's fresher. I mean, it's fucking good shit. So you have a great
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product. Okay. A superior product. So if you want to send us some that we can use promotional
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type stuff, let us know. But the point is, is that you want to get people talking about your brand.
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You know, the way that people buy is changing every single day and, and you've got to utilize
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that and be fluid. And I know I'm not giving you a very specific answer, but you're going
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to have to get creative and, and, and be the people's brand versus the big brand, you know,
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get, take a one, take a one person at a time, you know, win over one person at a time that
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has influence. You know, I don't see a lot of beef jerky companies going out there and trying
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to like get people to have influence on social avenues to promote them. Maybe there's an idea
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for you right there. You know, um, I don't know. I, I, I mean, it's a great question.
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Yeah, it is. It's very challenging. You know, it's very challenging, but your goal should
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be to either create enough word of mouth that people are buying your brand directly from
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you. Okay. And then that creates the, the retailers want and demand for your product.
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That's how I built my, that's how we built first form. We built first form that way.
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Um, or it should be to create enough disruption in your, in their, uh, their market share for
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them to come to you and say, dude, we're going to buy you, you know? Um, and that's, that's
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what I would do. Sounds great. Yeah. Sounds great. So that's all we're going to have time
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for that, that little beep. You guys heard my timer go off. Um, I hope I answered the questions
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good. Uh, keep pouring the questions in guys. This is going to be a cool, I enjoy this. This
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is cool. Um, you know, sitting here just kind of rapping about you already shared. Did you share
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your Periscope and all your social media? Yeah. No, I didn't. Um, guys download the Periscope app.
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Follow me on Periscope at Andy for sell. It's a really cool app. It's a live broadcast app. I do
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daily Q and A's or at least every other day. It's a way for us to interact directly in real time.
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Very, very cool app. I believe the app is going to change the world and the way that we do things
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in business, um, and socially. It's definitely worth checking out. So check that out. Um,
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you can follow me on Instagram at Andy for seller or Snapchat at MFCEO.1, uh, dash one MFCEO dash one
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Vaughn tell the people where you're at on the, uh, on the old social medias on Instagram. And I'm
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pretty excited, man. I've got two more and I'm, I'm up to a thousand. There you go. Yeah. Uh,
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V a U G H N K O H L E R for Instagram. Same with Twitter. And, uh, and then I did start Periscope.
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I'll probably do that sometime soon. And that's, uh, at Vaughn Kohler. So cool. All right,
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guys, thank you so much. Thanks for giving a shit about what we have to say. Um, it's awesome.
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We're, we're having a lot of fun with this. I hope you guys are too. Please keep the questions
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coming in, email them to ask Andy at the MFCEO.com. Please put your question in the subject
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line so that we can get to it quickly. Um, and you know, we'll, we'll keep doing these
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little Q and a podcasts and see, uh, how they go. All right. Sounds good. All right. We'll see you