REAL AF with Andy Frisella - ASK ANDY： Choosing Partners, Slaying Giants - MFQA2

00:00:00.000 Hey guys, what's up? It's Andy and you're listening to the MF CEO project. This is the motherfucking

00:00:22.180 CEO project and you're listening to it. Like I said a second ago, if you're a first time

00:00:27.320 listener, I started my entrepreneurial journey at the age of 19 with $12,000 that I earned from

00:00:33.480 painting the stripes on parking lots with my business partner, Chris. Um, 16 years later,

00:00:39.940 we own multiple companies with combined revenue of over a hundred million dollars. This is an

00:00:44.480 entrepreneurial show. Uh, we tell bad jokes, we say fuck pussy and shit. And if those things are 0.67

00:00:52.300 not appealing to you, you might not want to listen. Um, I'm here with my cohost Vaughn

00:00:57.720 Kohler. What's up, dude? I'm trying not to laugh. I'm just telling the truth. All right. Today

00:01:04.480 we have a very special guest. I'm going to get kicked out of church. Hey man, today, just

00:01:08.920 blame it on me. I don't care. Yeah. Today we have a very special guest. He's a big fan of

00:01:12.500 the show. Um, his name is LL Cool J. You guys know him? Yeah. Yeah. I wish. Actually, we're

00:01:18.140 just going to do Q and A's. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, hype everybody up, but, uh, I, I would

00:01:22.880 love to have him on the show. He shares my stuff all the time on Instagram. Yeah. And

00:01:26.820 LL, come on, man. Yeah. Let's get on. I found out recently that LL stands for something like

00:01:32.180 ladies love. I didn't know that. Cool James. I didn't know that dude. He's the fucking

00:01:35.660 man. I was listening to, um, I was listening on the way here. I drove the four. I drove the

00:01:40.260 four today, the GT and I was listening to doing it on the way here. It was on a 100.3, the

00:01:44.980 beat, which is old school, uh, hip hop and R&B here in St. Louis, which I love. Um, but

00:01:51.320 anyhow, it was really cool. He started sharing my stuff and I wrote him a message. He wrote

00:01:54.740 me back and like, I don't know, like I felt like, I was like, holy shit, this is awesome.

00:01:59.560 Maybe you can be on that show. He's a, isn't he on some lip singing show? Like dude, no,

00:02:03.740 but there's a, there's a cop show, right? Isn't he? Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I thought he

00:02:06.880 was on that. So dude, LL's the man. Like the fact that he wrote me back, I mean, and you

00:02:11.140 could tell it was him by what he said. Yeah. Just very genuine and humble dude. It was really

00:02:14.800 fucking cool. Yeah. So if open invitation, yeah, that would be cool. Come on guys. Help

00:02:20.160 us get the word out to LL. Yeah. So, uh, yeah. You know who else I'd like to have is the rock.

00:02:24.980 The rock would be fucking awesome. Yeah. I looked, I looked into that. I know it's, yeah. It's

00:02:28.660 like half a million dollars to my plan is to like, you know, eventually just become friends

00:02:33.680 with them and then he'll do it for free. Yeah. That'd be awesome. Yeah. Who doesn't want

00:02:37.160 to be friends with the rock? Seriously. Fucking awesome. Yeah. Yes. If you don't like the rock,

00:02:41.160 there's something wrong. Had you already introduced the fact that this is not our typical. Yeah. This

00:02:45.920 isn't our typical broadcast guys. We're going to hit some Q and A's. Um, which is what we're

00:02:49.840 going to start doing now on Thursdays. I think that's going to be the day is Thursday. Yeah.

00:02:53.320 We're going to start hitting some Q and A's. Uh, it's going to be a 20 to 25 minute cast. Um,

00:02:59.400 and I guess in order for us to keep it at that, we better get started. Yeah. And I am,

00:03:03.380 because we're early on in it, I'm just going to very, very quickly run through the pointers

00:03:06.820 for, for getting your question answered on, on, uh, the MFCEO project. Three things. Number one,

00:03:12.580 you're more likely to get your question answered. If your question is actually in the subject line.

00:03:16.860 Number two, uh, understand that a lot of you guys have really awesome things to share,

00:03:21.000 but keep the backstory like till later, just ask the question right up front and then say,

00:03:25.500 okay, here's some backstory. And then finally do your best to try to make sure that we haven't

00:03:29.440 already answered the, uh, the question on, on a podcast or really anywhere. Uh, because you know,

00:03:35.740 that's a little repetitive. So with those pointers in mind, you know, obviously it's

00:03:39.580 askandyatthemfceo.com. We're loving your questions. We really want to respond to all of them. Give us

00:03:45.220 time because, uh, we're getting a lot of them, which is good. That's why we're at, that's actually

00:03:49.420 why we're doing what we're doing. We're adding the Thursday podcast because we can't work them

00:03:52.660 in on the Tuesday show. It's just too, it'll be too long. Yeah. So the first question, uh, is

00:03:57.800 actually, you know, last, uh, episode I did this and this is, I'm going to do it again. Uh, this is a

00:04:04.020 question that's been asked by a lot of people. Okay. So it's, it's not from any one person,

00:04:07.900 but, uh, you obviously went into business with your best friend. Um, he's your business partner.

00:04:12.580 So you knew a lot about him prior to forging this business partner relationship. But a lot of people

00:04:18.600 are asking, how do you size up a potential business partner? Like, what do you look for?

00:04:24.220 What are some red flags? Man, I could give my best answer to that. Obviously, you know,

00:04:28.940 I've been very fortunate to have a tremendous business partner. Um, we work together very,

00:04:34.720 very well. I will give you my best advice on this, but realize that I don't speak from experience

00:04:40.820 on this because I, we started so young and it's just worked out. Um, I've seen so many businesses,

00:04:50.280 you know, uh, people getting into business with their friends and it's just turns out to be a total

00:04:57.440 clusterfuck, you know? And usually when I see it turn into a total clusterfuck, it's because

00:05:06.540 both people are trying to play business. They're trying to be the man they're trying to own a

00:05:13.560 business and say, Oh, I'm the CEO. And it just isn't about that. And you have to accept that from

00:05:20.180 day one. So I would say, get somebody who is genuinely interested in being a business person and

00:05:25.240 making a business, get up and run and do some shit in this world above being somebody who just 0.71

00:05:31.840 wants somebody to put shine a light on them and say they're fucking because 99% of business is

00:05:38.400 grueling, hard grunt work and make sure that that's the kind of guy you're getting into business with.

00:05:44.540 You know, for me, you know, finding someone who, who likes to do and is good at the things that you

00:05:51.420 are not good at is something that I think you would want to check first. Okay. First of all,

00:05:55.800 do you like the person? Can you talk to the person? Do you have respect for the person? Do you

00:06:01.220 get along with the person? Would you like to have a beer with the guy? You know, cause you're going

00:06:05.820 to spend a lot of time together, right? Um, secondly, does this person bring skills or money

00:06:12.580 or ability to grow a business in a way that you do not possess? Because there is no reason to bring a

00:06:20.320 partner into business. If you possess all the things that he already brings to the table. A lot

00:06:26.120 of people want to get into business because they think, Oh, it'd be cool to bring my friends along.

00:06:31.160 And it is cool to bring your friends along, but you don't want to bring an unnecessary partner in

00:06:35.840 just because you're excited about your business. You want to think this through. You want to make

00:06:40.360 sure that it makes smart business sense for you. And if the person is bringing things that you

00:06:45.480 already possess, you're likely not, not only are you giving up half of your, of your, um, equity,

00:06:52.580 you know, or a portion of your equity, you're bringing in somebody that you're going to argue

00:06:56.580 with over these same skills that you both possess. Okay. Which is not a good thing. So I like to align

00:07:04.440 myself and I think it's best to align yourself with people who possess things that you do not have.

00:07:10.660 Um, you know, and obviously core value character traits, you know, is this person a good moral

00:07:18.360 person? Are they a thief? Are they a cheater? Did they get where they are, um, by doing things

00:07:24.480 that are immoral? Because the reality is if they did, they're going to do those same things to you.

00:07:29.100 You know, that always cracks me up about like dudes who like are women who, who are in marriages

00:07:35.440 and they end up cheating with somebody. And like these two people that are married couples have

00:07:40.880 an affair and they get married. Right. You know, and what the fuck do you, why would you do that?

00:07:46.780 Yeah. You know, and then all of a sudden these people are out cheating again later and then

00:07:50.160 they're surprised by it. Right. It's like, dude, come the fuck on. People show you who they are.

00:07:54.400 Okay. So, um, make sure you're paying attention. I think that, you know, I think that's basically it,

00:08:02.020 man. You know, I think that's, that's really all I could say about that. Yeah. You know?

00:08:05.340 Yeah. No, that's good. I like it. All right. Well, hopefully that was no matter what,

00:08:10.040 there's going to be a sense of risk to it. Okay. Like realize everything you do in business is

00:08:14.500 going to have risk, including your business partner. You're there's a very good chance you

00:08:20.420 might have a bad business relationship, but if you have the opportunity to do something great with

00:08:25.620 somebody who possesses skills that you don't have, and you guys can forge together and create

00:08:30.260 something great, don't stop just because you're afraid of what might happen bad. You know,

00:08:36.640 fucking, you got to go at it. And when those bad things happen, you got to work through them.

00:08:40.480 You know, Chris and I, we've had our, we have our disagreements, but the fact of the matter is,

00:08:44.480 you know, he likes the shit that I don't like. I like the shit he doesn't like. Right. So it works.

00:08:50.360 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.

00:08:54.760 So it works. And, and that's really, I'm, I've been, you know, somewhat lucky because it just

00:09:01.400 worked out that that was really my first business partner, um, that it worked out that way. But I

00:09:06.500 think a lot of that is learned too. You know, you kind of pick up what the other person doesn't like

00:09:12.120 to do and you pick that up and you kind of just work together. It's, it's, uh, it's an interesting

00:09:18.180 journey. It's going to be interesting no matter what. Makes sense. Yeah. Makes sense. Okay. Next

00:09:23.000 question is by a guy named Matt Edwards. And this is what he says. He says, um, I've entered an

00:09:30.580 industry that's dominated by one company controlling roughly 50% of the market share. They own the

00:09:36.740 shelf space. If you were going into an industry that was controlled by one company, how would you

00:09:41.460 do it? Almost all sales take place inside retailers, convenience stores, grocery stores,

00:09:46.100 et cetera. If it were me, I would look at other avenues that these, that that company is not

00:09:53.240 pursuing to sell your product. You know, we're in the age of technology when there's, there's,

00:09:59.140 there's different avenues to distribute and sell your product every single day. Um, and I think a lot

00:10:06.220 of people fall into the trap of seeing somebody be successful. For example, right now we have a brand

00:10:11.900 we're talking about that owns 50% of the market. I don't know the product. Well, you know, it's

00:10:17.220 funny. What can I say the product? I didn't realize when I read it. Oh, did he give the product? Yeah,

00:10:21.700 he did. What is it? It's the Moab beef jerky guy. Oh, all right. Yeah. All right. Cool. And dude,

00:10:26.180 Moab's good shit. All right, dude, here, look, I'll give you some advice. I tried Moab the other guy

00:10:31.760 the other day. I fucking love it. All right. So what I would do is I would start looking into other

00:10:36.980 avenues to promote your brand that would get tremendous word of mouth behind it. Find people

00:10:42.840 who have a voice, find people who have the ability to influence other people and get them on the,

00:10:50.340 on the Moab train, get them behind your product and get them talking about it, get them posting

00:10:55.180 about it. And you'll create momentum, which will create demand, which will give you the ability

00:10:59.420 to break into that space. Um, or at least you'll create a big enough disruption to where maybe,

00:11:04.760 um, your competitor, which is Jack links. I already know it's going to come in and fucking

00:11:10.820 buy you out. Okay. Which isn't a bad situation. Right. But either way you're creating value by

00:11:16.540 being disruptive and you're creating, uh, maybe you create an innovative business model, how to move

00:11:21.280 product, uh, that other companies aren't utilizing, you know, Jack's links isn't having, you know, the rock

00:11:28.400 fucking use Jack links and post a picture of it on the fucking Instagram. Right. Maybe you try something

00:11:32.760 like that. At least that we know of. I don't, I don't, I'm just saying they're, they're traditional

00:11:37.200 business, you know? So you're a small business. You've got to think of your advantages. You're

00:11:41.060 fluid. You're able to change. You're able to do things that they cannot do. So be resourceful.

00:11:46.880 You know, you have a great product by the way. I fucking love the product. Yeah. No, I had it too.

00:11:50.500 It was really good. I had the teriyaki. Yeah. So Matt, like, dude, you've got an awesome product.

00:11:55.940 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,

00:12:00.220 it's every bit as good as that, if not better. So in fact, you know what, dude, I actually think

00:12:05.880 it is a lot better. It's softer. It's fresher. I mean, it's fucking good shit. So you have a great

00:12:10.240 product. Okay. A superior product. So if you want to send us some that we can use promotional

00:12:14.920 type stuff, let us know. But the point is, is that you want to get people talking about your brand.

00:12:20.700 You know, the way that people buy is changing every single day and, and you've got to utilize

00:12:26.700 that and be fluid. And I know I'm not giving you a very specific answer, but you're going

00:12:32.200 to have to get creative and, and, and be the people's brand versus the big brand, you know,

00:12:39.680 get, take a one, take a one person at a time, you know, win over one person at a time that

00:12:45.020 has influence. You know, I don't see a lot of beef jerky companies going out there and trying

00:12:48.340 to like get people to have influence on social avenues to promote them. Maybe there's an idea

00:12:54.100 for you right there. You know, um, I don't know. I, I, I mean, it's a great question.

00:13:01.700 Yeah, it is. It's very challenging. You know, it's very challenging, but your goal should

00:13:05.800 be to either create enough word of mouth that people are buying your brand directly from

00:13:10.320 you. Okay. And then that creates the, the retailers want and demand for your product.

00:13:16.520 That's how I built my, that's how we built first form. We built first form that way.

00:13:20.360 Um, or it should be to create enough disruption in your, in their, uh, their market share for

00:13:31.420 them to come to you and say, dude, we're going to buy you, you know? Um, and that's, that's

00:13:36.040 what I would do. Sounds great. Yeah. Sounds great. So that's all we're going to have time

00:13:40.800 for that, that little beep. You guys heard my timer go off. Um, I hope I answered the questions

00:13:45.340 good. Uh, keep pouring the questions in guys. This is going to be a cool, I enjoy this. This

00:13:51.540 is cool. Um, you know, sitting here just kind of rapping about you already shared. Did you share

00:13:55.240 your Periscope and all your social media? Yeah. No, I didn't. Um, guys download the Periscope app.

00:14:00.660 Follow me on Periscope at Andy for sell. It's a really cool app. It's a live broadcast app. I do

00:14:05.480 daily Q and A's or at least every other day. It's a way for us to interact directly in real time.

00:14:10.320 Very, very cool app. I believe the app is going to change the world and the way that we do things

00:14:15.320 in business, um, and socially. It's definitely worth checking out. So check that out. Um,

00:14:21.720 you can follow me on Instagram at Andy for seller or Snapchat at MFCEO.1, uh, dash one MFCEO dash one

00:14:28.280 Vaughn tell the people where you're at on the, uh, on the old social medias on Instagram. And I'm

00:14:33.280 pretty excited, man. I've got two more and I'm, I'm up to a thousand. There you go. Yeah. Uh,

00:14:37.660 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.

00:14:44.960 I'll probably do that sometime soon. And that's, uh, at Vaughn Kohler. So cool. All right,

00:14:50.460 guys, thank you so much. Thanks for giving a shit about what we have to say. Um, it's awesome.

00:14:56.020 We're, we're having a lot of fun with this. I hope you guys are too. Please keep the questions

00:15:00.500 coming in, email them to ask Andy at the MFCEO.com. Please put your question in the subject

00:15:07.580 line so that we can get to it quickly. Um, and you know, we'll, we'll keep doing these

00:15:12.440 little Q and a podcasts and see, uh, how they go. All right. Sounds good. All right. We'll see you

00:15:18.360 later.

00:15:48.360 you know, we'll see you next time.

00:15:49.360 Bye.

00:15:50.360 Bye.

00:15:51.360 Bye.

00:15:52.360 Bye.

REAL AF with Andy Frisella - August 06, 2015

ASK ANDY： Choosing Partners, Slaying Giants - MFQA2

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