REAL AF with Andy Frisella - We Talking Business Like It's 1999, with Andy Frisella - MFCEO56

00:00:00.080 What's up, guys? This is Vaughn Kohler, and you're listening to the MFCEO Project.

00:00:04.320 Today, Andy Frisella earns millions of dollars and drives a Lamborghini,

00:00:08.160 but back in 1999, he slept in the back of his retail store on a piss-stained mattress.

00:00:15.700 In this episode, we're going to take our metaphorical DeLorean back in time,

00:00:19.300 and the Andy of today is going to drop some knowledge on the Andy of yesteryear.

00:00:23.740 What I'm trying to say is, when this podcast hits 88 miles an hour, 0.99

00:00:27.540 you're going to see some serious shit. 0.99

00:00:30.000 All I do is work, work, work, never on the sidelines, I only hustle, hustle, hustle, 0.99

00:00:46.600 never take your day off, I only work, work, work, work, I don't mess around, kid, I only can't,

00:00:52.800 but he never sleeps, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you,

00:00:59.980 all I do is work.

00:01:01.200 Hey guys, what's up? You're listening to the MFCEO Project.

00:01:04.940 I'm Andy, I'm your host, and I am the motherfucking CEO. 0.95

00:01:08.980 Guys, if it's your first time listening, welcome. 0.99

00:01:11.880 Our goal here is to make you a motherfucking CEO. 1.00

00:01:15.480 What is a motherfucking CEO? 1.00

00:01:17.400 Why do I got to use the word fuck so much? 1.00

00:01:19.100 You know what? Because I like it. I like it. 0.99

00:01:20.980 It's my favorite word, period.

00:01:22.300 You have to realize whether or not you own a business, whether you're the employee of a business,

00:01:29.240 whether you're thinking of starting a business, all of the principles of becoming a CEO

00:01:34.320 and becoming control of your life and in control of your situation apply to you,

00:01:41.820 no matter what you're doing right now.

00:01:43.960 And our goal here is for you to regain control, for you to become aware of the control that you have, 0.99

00:01:50.340 and for you to become a motherfucking CEO on your own. 0.98

00:01:53.420 With that being said, this prize is something you're going to want to play in front of your kids. 0.98

00:01:57.640 It's probably not something you're going to want to play in front of your car,

00:01:59.980 in your car, you know, on the way to kindergarten.

00:02:03.760 You know, this is for adults, and if you have a problem with cursing, it's not going to be for you. 0.98

00:02:08.580 So, today, I really have no idea what the fuck we're going to talk about because I don't have an agenda. 0.97

00:02:14.400 And usually, I have an agenda that Vaughn prepares, and we have notes, and today, I have nothing. 0.95

00:02:19.560 So, I don't know what we're going to talk about.

00:02:21.100 You don't like DeLoreans, correct?

00:02:22.740 I think that you told me that. 1.00

00:02:23.500 A hunk's a shit. 1.00

00:02:24.180 Right. 1.00

00:02:24.880 But what does that car conjure up in your mind?

00:02:30.540 The Libyans! 0.99

00:02:32.020 That's right.

00:02:32.820 Back to the future.

00:02:33.740 That's what we're going to do today, guys.

00:02:35.040 What I thought we'd do is, because we've gotten a lot of questions through the website on the basic nuts and bolts of being on ground zero of that journey.

00:02:44.120 And so, I thought what we'd do is we'd take our metaphorical DeLorean back in time to 1999, the year, the great year of, I guess, the beginning of your empire.

00:02:58.740 Yeah, the beginning of what we have now, but it definitely wasn't the beginning of being an entrepreneur.

00:03:02.880 Right, right.

00:03:03.540 You know what I mean?

00:03:03.920 I mean, that's what people forget.

00:03:05.240 You know, when I was eight years old, I was out selling baseball cards.

00:03:09.380 You know what I mean?

00:03:10.000 Yeah.

00:03:10.220 At 10 years old, I was selling light bulbs.

00:03:12.380 You know, I sold lemonade.

00:03:13.700 I sold snow cones.

00:03:15.080 I went door to door. 1.00

00:03:16.300 I've done that shit my whole life. 1.00

00:03:17.560 Yeah. 1.00

00:03:17.720 People don't realize that even though I wasn't of age, 18 years old, and I wasn't doing things officially with like a business license and all these other things that people get caught up with, I was learning some fucking lessons. 0.97

00:03:30.380 Right. 0.96

00:03:30.580 The valuable ones. 0.99

00:03:31.820 Go door to door and try to sell somebody some fucking light bulbs and see how hard that is. 0.99

00:03:36.320 You know? 1.00

00:03:36.820 Yeah.

00:03:37.120 You learn a lot.

00:03:38.420 And so I was in practice of being an entrepreneur since the time I was eight years old.

00:03:45.220 Yeah.

00:03:45.340 You know?

00:03:45.540 So, yeah.

00:03:46.120 So, people say, when I say, oh, yeah, we started this at 19, they're like, oh, that's so young. 1.00

00:03:49.580 I'm like, motherfucker. 1.00

00:03:50.280 I started when you were still pooping in your diapers. 1.00

00:03:53.500 Right.

00:03:54.100 You know?

00:03:54.480 Right.

00:03:54.900 Right.

00:03:55.280 So.

00:03:56.000 Was 99, though, that was the first year of your, what eventually became First Form?

00:04:01.180 That's the first year we started Supplement Superstores.

00:04:04.000 Supplement Superstores.

00:04:04.280 Supplement Superstores.

00:04:04.920 Yeah.

00:04:05.040 That's eventually what funded First Form and everything else that we have going on today.

00:04:09.500 Yeah.

00:04:10.000 So, I'm going to, we're just going to roll back the clock and try to get you to talk about

00:04:13.940 some of those early struggles.

00:04:14.980 Let me say this, too.

00:04:16.300 Just if you're a young guy and you haven't, you know, been selling things since you were

00:04:21.360 eight years old, that doesn't disqualify you from being an entrepreneur.

00:04:24.880 You know?

00:04:25.140 Don't let, say, oh, yeah, I started way too late.

00:04:27.640 You know?

00:04:28.560 That was just me.

00:04:29.680 That's what I did.

00:04:30.420 And there's different classes of an entrepreneur.

00:04:32.360 There's, there's, and if you listen to the podcast, we've talked about this plenty of

00:04:35.500 times. 0.99

00:04:36.020 You know, there's guys who are type A builder entrepreneurs that build shit from the ground 0.99

00:04:40.660 up. 0.98

00:04:41.100 There's guys who can run things that are already going.

00:04:43.860 There's guys who prefer to have their hands held a little bit and they open things like

00:04:47.540 franchises.

00:04:48.220 They come into systems that are already built.

00:04:50.420 There's intelligent aspects to all of those.

00:04:52.140 And the key is to finding out and being aware enough to figure out which one you are and

00:04:56.120 finding a plan that suits that, that skillset.

00:04:58.720 You know what I mean?

00:04:59.660 Yeah.

00:04:59.820 So, you know, just because you weren't out selling baseball cards at eight years old

00:05:03.780 doesn't mean anything.

00:05:06.200 It's just, that's just what I did.

00:05:08.220 So I want to make that clear.

00:05:09.540 Right. 0.99

00:05:09.760 Because people hear shit and they look for excuses why they can't do it. 0.99

00:05:13.140 And, you know, if you're, if you're seeing that as an obstacle, you're, you're, you're 0.99

00:05:18.200 mistaken.

00:05:18.780 Right.

00:05:19.360 So, anyway.

00:05:20.680 So, yeah.

00:05:21.080 So this is my creative way of getting you to talk about ground zero entrepreneurial issues.

00:05:25.040 And I guess, I mean, we'll keep it, we'll start with a light question.

00:05:28.300 What would you have been listening to in 1999?

00:05:31.660 Metallica Black Album.

00:05:33.040 Really?

00:05:33.540 Yeah.

00:05:33.940 Or, or the box set Metallica.

00:05:36.260 In 1999.

00:05:37.400 Wow.

00:05:37.660 Yeah.

00:05:37.860 Okay.

00:05:38.220 Or, or.

00:05:39.360 No R&B.

00:05:40.180 No, no rap.

00:05:41.140 No, yeah.

00:05:41.540 I'll rap too.

00:05:42.400 Oh, yeah.

00:05:42.600 I would listen to, um, uh, a lot of, a lot of Ice Cube, a lot of, a lot of, you know, 0.98

00:05:50.720 the shit that's coming back now, uh, NWA. 0.98

00:05:53.540 Yeah. 0.99

00:05:54.080 Um, I mean, I was real hard into that then.

00:05:56.780 Yeah.

00:05:57.060 Um, you know, Notorious B.I.G. had the double disc set.

00:06:00.760 Mm-hmm.

00:06:01.100 Uh, Tupac had, you know, his set, you know, all that stuff was hot then.

00:06:06.840 Yeah.

00:06:07.180 You know?

00:06:07.600 Yeah.

00:06:07.760 Um, I think, uh, I think around that time, 99, I think it was, um, I think there was 0.98

00:06:16.420 also, let's see what else there was, uh, God, there's some shit that, like, you, like 0.98

00:06:23.800 one hit wonder stuff. 0.99

00:06:24.980 Yeah.

00:06:25.280 Dude, No Limits Soldier.

00:06:26.560 Yeah.

00:06:26.880 Like, Master P, Back That Ass Up.

00:06:29.660 Uh, you know, like, dude, there's a lot of things that are still, you hear them.

00:06:34.480 Yeah.

00:06:34.640 Like, you know, there was just a one, one hit deal, you know?

00:06:38.780 Yeah.

00:06:38.940 So, I don't know.

00:06:39.380 I was into all that.

00:06:40.180 After the late 90s, I can't really place a song based on the, based on the year, because

00:06:44.680 all the 2000s just flowed together for me. 0.97

00:06:48.000 Dude, the 2000s sucked. 0.96

00:06:49.660 Yeah.

00:06:49.960 Like the, like 2000 to like 2010, I feel like it's getting better or I'm adjusting my taste.

00:06:55.680 Like, I went through and listened to all Jay-Z's albums in a row.

00:06:58.940 Like, I signed up for Apple Music and like Apple Music's pretty cool if anybody hasn't done

00:07:03.120 it yet, but have you done it at all?

00:07:04.620 I haven't.

00:07:04.860 Okay.

00:07:05.080 So like, you basically pay a fee per month and you can like listen, whatever.

00:07:08.780 Wow.

00:07:09.200 And so I've been listening to his albums in chronological order.

00:07:12.700 And like, it's pretty weird because, um, they're at beginning, they were awesome.

00:07:17.480 And then during the 2000s, I'm sorry, dude, Jay-Z, I love you, but they were terrible.

00:07:21.420 Really?

00:07:21.800 And then they got at the end of like 2009, 10, 11, they started getting cool again, you

00:07:26.320 know?

00:07:26.700 So I, I, I don't know.

00:07:27.720 It's just interesting.

00:07:28.520 That is interesting.

00:07:29.220 I think that was a transition dude in hip hop where people were not sure what to do and

00:07:34.560 they weren't sure where it was going. 0.95

00:07:35.740 And the old school shit had all been done and the sampling had all been done and everything 0.99

00:07:40.940 had been done. 0.99

00:07:42.400 And then you had guys come out and start, started re reinvent the way it was done.

00:07:47.340 And that's what you're hearing now.

00:07:48.400 Yeah. 0.98

00:07:48.620 This hip hop trap, you know, Drake shit that you hear, which I actually started to like, 0.99

00:07:53.400 but when I first heard it, I was like, this is a fucking joke. 0.98

00:07:56.040 And it is a joke if you compare it to like what was going on in the late nineties, but 0.98

00:08:01.420 you know, it's, it's not bad.

00:08:03.420 Yeah.

00:08:03.720 I can get, I can, I can dig it.

00:08:05.320 Yeah.

00:08:05.940 You know?

00:08:06.280 So because this is going to involve some storytelling, I want to, I want to situate things in people's

00:08:12.760 minds.

00:08:13.920 Where were you?

00:08:15.420 Like literally geographically, where were you when you started this out?

00:08:18.680 So if I were going to Springfield, Missouri, and why don't you happen was we, I went on

00:08:24.040 spring break with a bunch of dude with Chris, my business partner, and then a bunch of his

00:08:28.200 friends from Springfield the year before we started our business.

00:08:31.760 And then I made some friends down there and I would go visit.

00:08:35.200 And then I liked it down there so much that I just decided to move there and start.

00:08:40.840 And then we started business.

00:08:42.080 So that's how that, that happened.

00:08:44.400 I've heard it's called spring Vegas.

00:08:46.380 Is that true?

00:08:47.180 It used to be fun, man.

00:08:48.220 I think now they've, you know, it's not as quite the, uh, destination hotspot.

00:08:53.520 The nightlife that it used to be, but it was a good time, man.

00:08:55.900 We had a great time down there.

00:08:57.040 Yeah.

00:08:57.780 Okay.

00:08:58.140 So we're going to, we're going to go back and I'm going to just start on a macro level,

00:09:02.220 thousand foot view.

00:09:03.100 You run into your, yourself at, in 1999.

00:09:07.060 And let's, let's just say you're, you're already, you know, neck deep in it.

00:09:12.040 What do you think looking back?

00:09:14.120 What do you think if, if your old self meets your future self, what do you think is his first

00:09:19.900 question to you as he's battling it out in the, in the entrepreneurial journey?

00:09:24.860 Am, am I doing the right thing?

00:09:26.900 And is this going to work?

00:09:27.740 Is this going to ever amount to anything?

00:09:29.460 I think that's the question that anybody asks when they're in that struggle phase of,

00:09:34.340 you know, and I think that's the question that keeps people from doing anything in the

00:09:38.700 first place, because everybody wants that guarantee of my idea is going to work.

00:09:43.980 My plan is going to work before they ever start the plan, which is natural because if 1.00

00:09:48.640 you didn't want the plan that was the most sure to work, you're a fucking idiot. 1.00

00:09:52.560 Right. 1.00

00:09:53.420 But people want that so much that they never get started.

00:09:58.400 You know what I mean?

00:09:59.220 So people who, who get it done or people who, who face that fear and then they go and do

00:10:07.720 these things regardless of that fear.

00:10:09.600 And they don't sit around and wonder and try to overly plan if this is a good plan or

00:10:14.260 not.

00:10:14.840 You know, people overanalyze the, is this going to work phase?

00:10:20.000 And it keeps a lot of people from ever doing anything.

00:10:22.220 So I think, you know, that would be the first question that I think anybody in that, in that

00:10:26.020 situation would want to know, like, is this worth sticking out or is it not?

00:10:29.940 Because when you're not making any money and you're not seeing much progress, you can't

00:10:34.400 see the future.

00:10:35.200 You can't see what's coming down the road.

00:10:36.940 You can't see, you know, what it is.

00:10:39.080 But looking back on that now, you know, it's the same thing as planting, you know, a harvest.

00:10:46.940 You know what I mean?

00:10:47.420 You're going to have to plant some seeds.

00:10:48.900 You're going to have to go out there and water those seeds. 0.98

00:10:50.760 And for a long time, you're not going to fucking see anything. 0.75

00:10:53.600 And then eventually something's going to come out of the ground. 0.98

00:10:55.960 You know what I mean?

00:10:56.420 And in business that that's, it just takes a while.

00:10:59.820 Right.

00:11:00.260 You know?

00:11:00.580 So I know not everybody who has a business who's listening to us is going to be exactly

00:11:05.540 the same situation that you were.

00:11:07.840 No, but I bet you most of them are in some phase of what I'm talking about right now.

00:11:12.260 Oh, I'm sure.

00:11:12.920 Yeah.

00:11:13.040 Because the reason you would be consuming something like my podcast would be because

00:11:17.540 you're wanting to be successful.

00:11:19.380 You're wanting to learn.

00:11:20.680 You're wanting to pick up something here or there.

00:11:22.880 And some people might be further along in this phase, but I would bet that most people

00:11:28.020 that listen to this are in some phase of uncertainty about their future, which is great because

00:11:34.720 to be a great entrepreneur, you've got to be comfortable being close to that fire and

00:11:40.400 letting that fire motivate you to move forward. 1.00

00:11:42.520 And that fire being going broke, being a fucking loser, being embarrassed. 1.00

00:11:46.880 You know what I mean? 1.00

00:11:47.760 Right.

00:11:48.140 And having all the worst fears come true.

00:11:51.420 Right.

00:11:51.580 That's what sharpens you.

00:11:52.460 That's what forces you to gain skills.

00:11:54.480 That's what forces you to give up things like weekends, trips, or vacations, or fishing, 0.99

00:12:01.300 or whatever the fuck people do. 0.97

00:12:03.220 You know what I mean? 0.99

00:12:03.780 For these goals.

00:12:04.920 So I think having that fear is a great thing.

00:12:08.780 But a lot of people try to do something without that fear.

00:12:11.620 And number one, you can't.

00:12:14.340 And if you can, you're probably going to get complacent in a small little level, a small

00:12:20.580 level anyway of success.

00:12:22.140 And, you know, that's, I don't know.

00:12:24.400 I don't think anybody listening to this is in that boat.

00:12:26.240 Right.

00:12:26.460 No, I think you're right.

00:12:27.340 With that qualification aside, I think there are people who are listening to us that don't

00:12:31.160 have, just by virtue of the kind of business they're in, they don't have necessarily the

00:12:36.460 same kind of overhead that you did when you started.

00:12:39.460 So my question that I'm fairly certain that young Andy would ask old Andy is that he'd

00:12:47.100 say, dude, I mean, I have a lot of expenses because of my overhead.

00:12:50.820 I've got, because of having to purchase product, you know, keep a retail store, all that sort

00:12:55.220 of thing.

00:12:55.500 So what would Andy now tell Andy back then about, you know, you have a limited amount

00:13:01.400 of funds.

00:13:02.240 What's the best way to allocate those funds?

00:13:06.740 I would tell him to, and this took me a long time to figure out, but I would tell him to

00:13:12.140 focus on customer experience because the better customer experience that you could provide,

00:13:18.220 the better wow factor that you could provide for your customers, the more word of mouth you

00:13:22.920 create, the more effective you are with those customers, the more they're willing to invite

00:13:30.540 their friends to come be a part of your company, of your culture.

00:13:34.040 And I see way too many businesses investing in these things, billboards, TV, radio, and these

00:13:39.700 campaigns.

00:13:40.580 But, you know, when the customers come in, they don't have their system of how to create

00:13:45.620 those wow experiences internally. 0.98

00:13:47.880 They think they do, but they fucking don't. 0.99

00:13:50.520 They do what they're supposed to do. 0.99

00:13:51.820 I'm not talking about what you're supposed to do.

00:13:54.340 I'm not talking about treating them right.

00:13:56.040 I'm not talking about shaking their hand.

00:13:57.720 I'm not talking about saying thank you. 0.99

00:13:59.100 That's shit you're supposed to do. 0.99

00:14:00.620 I'm talking about creating an experience that makes people say, holy shit, that was 1.00

00:14:05.600 the best experience I've ever had. 0.92

00:14:07.460 Not in your industry, in any place they've ever shopped.

00:14:11.960 Okay?

00:14:12.240 So I would focus on that.

00:14:13.900 And had I focused on that in the beginning, and by the way, one great way to focus on that

00:14:20.720 is by solving the person's problem they came in for, okay, instead of trying to sell them 0.99

00:14:25.620 shit, all right? 1.00

00:14:27.000 Solve their fucking problem. 1.00

00:14:28.840 And do it in a way that makes them say, wow, that was the greatest fucking experience I 1.00

00:14:32.440 ever had. 0.97

00:14:33.220 And if you could do that, people will trust you enough to go grab their friends and say,

00:14:39.240 dude, you've got to come experience this dude's business.

00:14:42.840 You know, they are great.

00:14:43.840 And they're not just great.

00:14:44.620 It's the best I've ever had, you know, and I didn't do that for the first 10 years I

00:14:49.360 was in business.

00:14:49.880 It took me a long time to figure that out, which is why it took me so fucking long to

00:14:54.180 get where I am.

00:14:54.960 Had I figured that out on day one, dude, I would have done what I did in five years,

00:14:59.940 period.

00:15:01.120 You know what I mean?

00:15:01.760 It was just, I didn't get it. 0.99

00:15:03.740 I was a young kid who didn't understand business, who had to learn shit, you know, on his own. 0.97

00:15:10.280 And I'm glad, I'm thankful. 0.97

00:15:11.560 I'm not going to bitch about that, but you know, if I, if you're a young entrepreneur

00:15:15.740 right now and you want to move along the path and you have a limited funds to invest in your

00:15:19.820 business, invest that in the customer experience that you have.

00:15:22.380 Because if you only have five customers, you, you need, you could turn them into 10 real

00:15:27.400 easy by making them say, wow, that was awesome. 0.99

00:15:30.220 And I'm not, and like I said, I'm not talking about the shit you're supposed to do. 0.97

00:15:33.940 A lot of people confuse this wow factor with what you're supposed to do, right? 0.97

00:15:37.740 They confuse it with being nice, answering questions, holding the door. 0.99

00:15:41.560 Or carrying out the product, shaking hands that dude, you're supposed to do that shit. 0.99

00:15:46.940 Right. 1.00

00:15:47.460 Right.

00:15:47.720 And everybody's business is different, you know, like, and, and, and by the way, don't 0.99

00:15:52.960 try to cut fucking corners when you do this shit because it just takes away all the effort. 0.97

00:15:56.340 Like for example, you know, if you're going to do thank you cards for, to your customers 0.99

00:16:01.800 and then you decide to go have the mass printed and then you send them out, that's worse than

00:16:07.420 doing no thank you card.

00:16:09.880 Right. 0.99

00:16:10.180 Because it takes zero fucking effort. 0.99

00:16:11.560 It says, Hey, you know what? 0.99

00:16:12.460 I don't really fucking care about you by the way. 0.93

00:16:15.700 You know, we do care about you. 0.98

00:16:17.260 Yeah.

00:16:17.380 Like it's, it's like, dude, you're saying one thing, but you're actually so different.

00:16:21.080 You actually anticipated my question.

00:16:22.900 My next question. 1.00

00:16:23.660 I'm a fucking genius. 1.00

00:16:24.520 You are, you are. 1.00

00:16:25.460 Um, but, but you are, um, but in a humble sort of way, yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm cumble

00:16:32.080 and hockey.

00:16:33.920 Yeah.

00:16:34.420 Yeah.

00:16:34.980 So no, but I mean, I think people were probably wondering, well, what, what's a specific way

00:16:38.960 to spend money that invests in the customer experience?

00:16:42.360 And you said it, it's, it's like quality, quality, thank you cards.

00:16:46.720 Dude, there's a million ways.

00:16:48.200 Okay.

00:16:48.520 And I'm not going to get into the specifics. 0.89

00:16:50.320 That's part of the research that you need to fucking do that is going to apply to your specific 0.92

00:16:54.980 business. 0.96

00:16:55.580 You could do something.

00:16:57.600 Um, you, dude, you could be a lawn, a lawn landscape company, right.

00:17:03.520 And do the people's lawns and then have some special product that you give the person extra

00:17:09.520 to take care of their flower bed.

00:17:10.960 Or like, there's just, it's so, there's so many things you could do, right.

00:17:15.000 That it's, I can't even start down that road.

00:17:19.060 Right.

00:17:19.260 And that's up to you to figure out what you can do in your line of business to, to help

00:17:24.520 you.

00:17:24.760 And, and this is what's, this is, this is going to help you grow because what you just

00:17:29.760 asked me to do is like, if I was your personal trainer, you asked me to lift the weights for

00:17:33.260 you.

00:17:33.580 Right. 1.00

00:17:33.920 I'm not going to fucking lift the weights for you. 1.00

00:17:35.580 You need to go lift the fucking weights. 1.00

00:17:37.200 You need to go read. 1.00

00:17:38.480 You need to go learn because it's going to develop your brain and your creativity and your line

00:17:43.340 of thinking. 1.00

00:17:44.080 I'm giving you the fucking direction. 1.00

00:17:46.580 It's up to you to go running it. 0.99

00:17:48.180 You know what I mean?

00:17:48.740 So I'm not going to get the specifics out, but you know, if you listen to the podcast

00:17:52.980 enough, we've talked about these things, you know, but anything that you can do to make

00:17:57.520 somebody say, wow, that was awesome.

00:17:59.100 If you were a customer, what would, what would make you stand out to you?

00:18:02.980 You know what I mean?

00:18:03.880 And you start trying those things and like try them with your customers and like, you

00:18:07.620 know, let's say you have five customers, try five different things, see what works the

00:18:10.480 best.

00:18:11.140 You know what I mean?

00:18:11.840 And then you, and then, and then the next question is going to be, well, Andy, I've

00:18:15.660 got, I've got 10 employees.

00:18:17.240 How do I get them all to do that? 0.99

00:18:18.540 Well, you've got to fucking train them to do that. 0.98

00:18:20.440 And by training them to understand the value of each customer individually, you know, today, 0.99

00:18:25.280 everybody's an influencer.

00:18:26.460 It's not just, you know, five years ago was the big influencers.

00:18:29.520 It was like, who do you want to go find?

00:18:31.360 I want to find the people that make the biggest debt that can impact the most people. 0.97

00:18:34.980 Now, every fucking person that you talk to and see is an influencer and they have people 0.98

00:18:40.040 that they're going to talk to about you. 0.99

00:18:41.840 You need to control that conversation.

00:18:43.820 The way you control that conversation is one, by solving problems, two, creating a wow factor

00:18:48.280 to where they feel like they need to bring the conversation up because you did such a

00:18:52.260 great job.

00:18:53.460 You see what I'm saying?

00:18:54.320 Yeah, absolutely.

00:18:55.620 So the takeaway is obviously investing money in customer experience.

00:19:00.300 So let's stick on the topic of money because you know, as well as I do, everybody's always

00:19:04.040 asking this.

00:19:04.720 And I know that young Andy would say to old Andy, well, the first thing he would say is,

00:19:08.500 dude, age has been really good to you.

00:19:10.160 And then he would say, dude, you know that nobody, nobody's given us a loan.

00:19:16.420 What are we going to do about that?

00:19:18.520 You're going to have, okay.

00:19:19.920 You're going to have to come up with a system that generates enough cash to finance your

00:19:23.120 company on its own.

00:19:25.880 And that's what I did.

00:19:27.320 That's what we did internally.

00:19:28.500 Okay.

00:19:29.100 You're going to have to come up with, and we're in a different business.

00:19:32.900 Okay.

00:19:33.220 We're in a business that cannot, we, we cannot get financing.

00:19:37.420 That's just what it comes down to.

00:19:38.780 All right.

00:19:39.200 Um, and, and in the beginning it sucked because I didn't have any help and I couldn't go to

00:19:44.160 a bank. 0.98

00:19:44.580 I couldn't get a fucking SBA loan. 0.99

00:19:47.040 You know, our collateral for our company is not sellable. 0.99

00:19:51.100 So if we were to go under, people don't know how to use our, our, our inventory and get

00:19:55.080 their money back.

00:19:55.660 So nobody's willing to loan anything.

00:19:56.900 Right. 0.98

00:19:57.420 You know, if you're selling lumber or fucking cars or this or that, you can go out and get 0.99

00:20:02.260 financing like all day long. 0.98

00:20:03.900 People fight over it because there's a product that they know how to sell at the end.

00:20:07.240 So we had an extremely difficult situation where nobody would, would lend, but in, in,

00:20:14.620 in the scheme of things, it was a great thing for us because what it did was it taught us

00:20:19.240 how to make our company cashflow positive in a way that we didn't need to have outside

00:20:25.560 financing. 0.88

00:20:26.200 Now, now everybody wants to fucking give us lines of credit and finance our business and 0.97

00:20:31.320 this and that. 0.98

00:20:31.980 You know what?

00:20:32.440 We don't need that now.

00:20:33.900 Right.

00:20:34.300 Because we know how to do that.

00:20:35.360 We know how to make our business actually make money without that.

00:20:38.260 It, did you borrow from a tried and true system or did you have to have to just tweak

00:20:42.980 your own customized system?

00:20:44.920 Look, man, you got to understand when I was, when I was younger, you know, I was not in

00:20:53.980 the mindset of I'm going to grow this business into a trillion dollar business. 0.97

00:20:57.620 I was in the mindset of like, I want to fucking drive a Lamborghini. 0.95

00:21:01.040 Right. 0.98

00:21:01.360 You know what I'm saying?

00:21:02.160 And so my mindset, it was in a different spot and I had to figure out ways to make money.

00:21:10.680 You know what I mean?

00:21:11.640 And so I generated new systems and new opportunities and brought in new products and created new

00:21:17.840 strategies and new systems to do that outside of what we used to do, which was basically

00:21:23.880 just, you know, open the store every day and close the store every day.

00:21:27.980 And we didn't have a system of how we did things.

00:21:30.600 You know what I mean?

00:21:31.260 So you're going to have to develop a way to, to, to make your company profitable.

00:21:36.340 You know, cause a lot of people like they hinge their success on getting money.

00:21:40.860 They say, Oh, I need money.

00:21:43.020 I can't get financing.

00:21:44.200 I can't get somebody to get me started.

00:21:45.600 I can't get a loan.

00:21:46.420 I can't get this and this and this.

00:21:47.900 That is your biggest asset as a, as an entrepreneur.

00:21:51.060 And you don't realize this, but I'm telling you that is your biggest asset. 0.98

00:21:55.400 You know why the fuck you're listening to me right now on this podcast? 0.93

00:21:58.260 Because the lack of money made me get creative enough to where I became intelligent enough 0.98

00:22:03.840 to learn what entrepreneurship and business was all about on my own to the point that where

00:22:09.120 I could make money without other people's money.

00:22:11.860 And that's, if I didn't have that sense of urgency and that need to do that and cultivate

00:22:17.120 that creativity and those skills, you wouldn't even be listening to this podcast at this point

00:22:21.640 in time.

00:22:22.140 Right.

00:22:22.420 You see what I mean?

00:22:23.160 So not having funds is not an excuse.

00:22:25.960 It's an asset to your success.

00:22:27.560 You have to learn to get creative and you have to learn to think out, quote unquote, 0.93

00:22:32.380 outside the box, whatever the fucking box is, you know, to get yourself in a place to 0.97

00:22:38.500 where you can make money. 0.99

00:22:40.020 And that's it.

00:22:41.320 Yeah.

00:22:41.640 It seems to me that I'm going to state the obvious here, but in order to do that though,

00:22:45.480 you had to really, really understand your business and you had to, you had to look at

00:22:50.840 your business from the inside out and go, okay, how can I, how can I arrange all the puzzle

00:22:56.240 pieces or the, or the chess pieces to figure out a system to make money?

00:23:00.360 And what's kind of funny.

00:23:01.140 And I heard, I think it was Gary that said this one time is he says, he said, it's amazing

00:23:06.440 how many people have great ideas for products or for services, but when all said and done,

00:23:11.140 you ask them about their business plan and they don't know how they're actually going

00:23:14.260 to make money off of it.

00:23:15.400 And, and I mean, it seems like how, how could you go into business and not know what your

00:23:20.760 actual plan for making money is?

00:23:22.300 But that's what you figured out.

00:23:24.220 Well, that's the, that's the culture of entrepreneurship right now.

00:23:27.460 Entrepreneurship right now is not buy a, a, a product for $5 and sell it for 10.

00:23:33.260 It's have an idea, raise a trillion dollars from venture capital in Silicon Valley and like

00:23:40.620 write about it in an entrepreneur magazine and, and, and have a nice fancy office where Chuck

00:23:47.020 Taylor's, you know, play video games at fucking lunchtime, you know, and be in some articles 0.81

00:23:53.600 about your entrepreneurship. 0.99

00:23:54.840 I raised a trillion fucking dollars and never actually are you an entrepreneur, right? 0.99

00:24:01.620 You know what I mean? 0.99

00:24:02.080 That's what entrepreneurship is right now. 0.96

00:24:03.780 Like people are getting into it for the wrong fucking reasons because they think that they're 1.00

00:24:08.400 going to become this hipster fucking entrepreneur, weird motherfucker, you know? 0.99

00:24:16.040 So I think people, people get into the wrong idea and what Gary's talking about when he 0.99

00:24:21.380 talks about what you're, what you're saying is, dude, people aren't figuring out how to 0.99

00:24:25.400 sell shit. 0.99

00:24:26.540 They're, it's playing. 1.00

00:24:27.580 I call it playing business.

00:24:28.820 It's playing business.

00:24:30.160 I've got an idea.

00:24:31.640 Let's get funding and then we'll figure it out.

00:24:34.100 Well, first of all, if you're not desperate to figure it out and you have a hard problem,

00:24:39.400 it's pretty hard to figure it out, especially if you're comfortable.

00:24:42.520 You know what I mean?

00:24:43.240 That old saying, if you sleep with silk sheets, it's hard to get out of bed.

00:24:46.460 You know what I'm saying?

00:24:47.420 Yeah.

00:24:47.760 It's the same thing when you got $50 million in the bank and you've got this problem to

00:24:50.880 solve and you say, oh, well, you know what?

00:24:52.860 We'll just throw money at it. 0.92

00:24:53.660 We'll throw money at it. 0.96

00:24:54.300 We'll throw money at it. 0.96

00:24:54.960 We'll throw money.

00:24:55.520 Oh, the money's gone.

00:24:56.460 Oh yeah.

00:24:57.180 And then, you know, no one ever has to bear the responsibility of running that company

00:25:01.120 bankrupt. 0.95

00:25:01.840 They all talk about how much, you know, oh, I was the fucking co-founder of, of kittycat.com 0.97

00:25:08.180 and they never talk about how kittycat.com went fucking broke because it didn't sell 0.97

00:25:12.180 anything. 0.94

00:25:13.080 You see what I mean?

00:25:13.840 Absolutely.

00:25:14.460 Yeah.

00:25:14.600 And that's what's popular right now in entrepreneurship. 1.00

00:25:16.340 It's these fucking bullshit stories of I raised all this VC money and I never fucking sold 1.00

00:25:22.260 anything. 1.00

00:25:23.560 Yeah.

00:25:24.020 Yeah.

00:25:24.160 That's it.

00:25:24.380 No, I, uh, the, the two things that come to my mind as analogies are one is, is what

00:25:29.420 you talk about the $30,000 millionaire where they're, they're making the world see, they

00:25:33.620 have enough money to make it look like they're really successful, but they're, you know, they're

00:25:37.400 bankrupt.

00:25:38.060 And then the other thing is, is the idea of this, you know, over the last 10, 20 years

00:25:42.200 is the idea of pumping money into the economy, which for a, for a certain, um, time makes,

00:25:49.140 makes it look like things are, are good, but it's all artificial.

00:25:52.320 So that's what I feel like you're saying is that there's all these guys that they do

00:25:56.060 succeed in getting, getting investors to, to throw money at them.

00:25:59.480 And so that they had this appearance of success, but really the bottom line, when you, you know,

00:26:03.740 there's guys like that too, you know, I would say it's not all those guys.

00:26:06.840 I think a lot of those guys just want to be, they play business. 0.99

00:26:10.100 They fucking sit at Starbucks with their fucking Apple and their Starbucks and they play business. 1.00

00:26:15.960 I'm a fucking entrepreneur. 1.00

00:26:17.560 I'm a CEO. 1.00

00:26:18.380 You know, we have, we have the perfect company culture and they use all these buzzwords, you

00:26:24.200 know, culture, you know, synergy, you know what I'm saying? 0.93

00:26:28.340 Like all these fucking buzzwords about business and, and, you know, dude, I could spot them 0.97

00:26:33.960 a hundred miles away and they play business. 0.99

00:26:35.860 You know what I mean?

00:26:36.840 Yeah.

00:26:37.340 Yeah. 1.00

00:26:37.720 No, they wear the nicest shit. 1.00

00:26:39.140 They, they wear the fucking trendy shoes and trendy fucking clothes. 1.00

00:26:42.780 You're so right about the, uh, I mean, I, what's funny is that I can't think of any off 1.00

00:26:46.640 the top of my head, but synergy, you said synergy, those motherfuckers look at me and they're 1.00

00:26:51.700 like, dude, that guy wears the same fucking outfit every day. 1.00

00:26:54.260 And they think I'm some kind of fucking Neanderthal. 1.00

00:26:56.600 Right. 1.00

00:26:57.120 It's like, dude, I will fucking run circles around you fucking anywhere, anytime. 0.99

00:27:02.520 And you know why? 0.99

00:27:03.380 The same guys having two hour meeting too.

00:27:05.040 Yeah. 1.00

00:27:05.280 Let's have seven fucking meetings a day about fucking everything. 1.00

00:27:08.080 You know why? 1.00

00:27:08.880 Cause I know how to fucking sell shit at my core. 1.00

00:27:11.360 I could fucking outsell any motherfucker listening to this podcast, guarantee, any product, anytime, 1.00

00:27:18.000 anywhere, any place, I will fucking destroy you. 1.00

00:27:22.100 And I'm that good. 1.00

00:27:23.320 And you know what? 0.99

00:27:24.680 That's why my business is fucking work. 0.99

00:27:26.920 But you still lack synergy. 0.99

00:27:28.900 Whatever.

00:27:29.680 You don't have, that's what I'm saying. 0.99

00:27:30.640 You don't have to fucking have it. 0.99

00:27:31.660 Right. 0.99

00:27:31.960 Exactly.

00:27:32.840 Exactly.

00:27:33.640 Okay.

00:27:33.920 So here's another question for young Andy.

00:27:36.040 He's going to ask old Andy.

00:27:36.900 He's going to say, dude, there is so much to do on a regular basis.

00:27:43.240 Like literally seemingly unrelated things that I just constantly putting out fires or doing

00:27:48.740 whatever.

00:27:49.320 How do you determine which things you have to do to move forward?

00:27:54.300 What are the tasks that you kind of over time saw this needed to be done?

00:27:58.840 It's a balance of figuring out what you need to do to pay the bills today and what's going

00:28:03.600 to be good over the long haul.

00:28:05.800 Right.

00:28:05.980 And there's a balance there.

00:28:08.140 And really, ideally, ideally, which I don't use that word very often, in an ideal world,

00:28:15.320 which doesn't exist, by the way, you would always plant seeds for the long term.

00:28:21.360 You know what I mean?

00:28:22.080 Right. 0.99

00:28:22.260 But when you're starving and you have zero dollars in the bank and you got to pay fucking 0.99

00:28:25.920 rent, certain things have to happen. 0.98

00:28:28.560 You know what I mean?

00:28:29.440 And so it's making the decisions that are going to pay the bills along with the decisions

00:28:35.200 that are the best long term.

00:28:37.100 But here's the thing that I learned over time is that those two things are actually the

00:28:41.640 same thing. 0.99

00:28:43.040 And what I see a lot of small business guys do is they'll do shit like this. 0.99

00:28:46.920 They get 10 days out from the end of the month and they're like, fuck, dude, we're short 0.99

00:28:50.680 on cash. 0.99

00:28:51.360 Let's run a sale.

00:28:53.160 Right.

00:28:53.560 And then they try to run they run a sale and then they do that again next month and

00:28:57.720 they do it again the third month.

00:28:58.940 And then you know what happens? 0.98

00:29:00.260 The customers figure out what the fuck's going on and what do they do? 1.00

00:29:03.980 They wait for the fucking sale. 1.00

00:29:05.300 That was wait. 1.00

00:29:05.880 All right.

00:29:06.220 And then what happens?

00:29:07.220 Then your margin goes down. 1.00

00:29:08.860 Your fucking profit goes down. 0.99

00:29:10.880 Your ability to pay everything out means you have to sell more. 1.00

00:29:14.400 Your customers devalue the product and all because you needed to make that short term

00:29:19.840 decision that first month and you kept doing it every month after that.

00:29:23.900 You see what I mean?

00:29:26.220 So, you know, the reality, though, the thing that you need to just keep doing over and over

00:29:33.120 and over and over and over again is anticipating and and and solving people's problems in a way

00:29:41.780 to where they go out and they solve this the short term and long term problem for you

00:29:46.700 because they go out and they tell their mom, they tell their dad, they tell their friends,

00:29:49.860 they tell their brother, sister, everybody on Facebook and Instagram how great you are.

00:29:54.040 And then you don't have an issue with having customers or selling product at the end of the month.

00:29:59.840 You see what I mean?

00:30:00.620 But that's only going to work if you're playing long ball with these people.

00:30:03.720 If you're playing, hey, I got to sell this person, you know, four new set, 0.99

00:30:08.540 four tires of the most expensive fucking tires that we have. 0.97

00:30:11.780 You know, this month and I got to get them out the door as fast as possible. 0.99

00:30:15.620 Dude, that person is going to go on the Internet and figure out that you oversold them.

00:30:18.940 And what are they going to do?

00:30:20.100 They're going to do the opposite, which is going to make you to a more desperate place next month.

00:30:23.820 Right.

00:30:24.200 It comes down to doing the right thing.

00:30:25.680 Right.

00:30:25.960 You know, I'm sure that's just a learned ability to know how to handle the long game versus

00:30:32.700 the short game.

00:30:33.520 And there's nothing you can do but experience.

00:30:35.080 I think it's it is a learning thing.

00:30:37.000 And it's a it's a process that will take time for you to figure out what the balance is.

00:30:44.600 And it's also a process that takes time for you to figure out and believe that and understand that when you take the time to do the right thing

00:30:55.220 and solve a person's problem and create wow factor with that customer, they will take care of you.

00:30:59.800 You know, but when you try to explain it to somebody who's got zero dollars in the bank and somebody comes in to their store or their place of business.

00:31:07.580 And, you know, the best thing for that customer would be to sell them at a medium level of whatever product that is.

00:31:14.940 Right. 0.99

00:31:15.260 Like if they're if they're need an alarm system for their business and you sell them the fucking Mac Daddy alarm system for the Pentagon, they're going to fucking get pissed. 0.99

00:31:25.480 Right. 0.99

00:31:26.120 Right.

00:31:26.400 So you have to.

00:31:27.260 But let's say you can.

00:31:28.660 You could do that.

00:31:29.460 Right.

00:31:30.760 But you have to have that discipline to hold back and do what's right so that they understand that you care about them.

00:31:37.880 You know, and and.

00:31:39.680 And that's something that most people just don't have the discipline to do when they're broke.

00:31:44.180 Mm hmm.

00:31:44.720 You know, is by by pulling the reins back and just doing the right thing.

00:31:48.120 They have a tendency to oversell, to violate the trust with the customer that which creates problems with, you know, word of mouth.

00:31:54.520 And it ultimately short circuits their business. 0.88

00:31:56.240 I know fucking hundred businesses that I'm describing right now. 0.91

00:32:01.120 You know, they get desperate. 0.97

00:32:02.980 They try to raise their prices.

00:32:03.980 And then all of a sudden, dude, they don't have any customers left because they pissed everybody off.

00:32:07.020 Right.

00:32:07.580 Right.

00:32:08.080 You know, and no matter.

00:32:08.820 And that's a that's another mistake. 0.97

00:32:10.160 If you're whatever business you're in, you if you I don't care if you're in fucking Hong Kong or the most populated city on earth, wherever you're going to run out of customers eventually. 0.87

00:32:19.600 So you need to work on making them loyal. 0.92

00:32:22.240 You know, this attitude of like, oh, there'll be another customer.

00:32:25.000 There'll be that dude. 1.00

00:32:26.220 That's the shit that will bury you. 1.00

00:32:28.580 That's the shit that you need to lose sleep over. 1.00

00:32:31.060 You know, if you have a customer that's upset, you should fucking lose sleep over that customer. 1.00

00:32:35.420 Dude, I spent I spent two hours on the Internet last week dealing talking to I saw a dude who made a post about a product that was negative. 0.97

00:32:46.980 I fucking emailed him and I emailed every single person that liked the post. 0.93

00:32:50.580 You know what I mean? 0.99

00:32:51.780 To try to solve whatever the issue was.

00:32:53.580 And you know what?

00:32:54.300 It would be real easy for me to turn over and go to bed and say, you know what? 0.92

00:32:57.080 It doesn't fucking matter because the reality is, is it's not going to affect me today.

00:33:00.760 But what's it going to do for me in six months or what's it going to do for me in six years? 0.97

00:33:04.380 Right.

00:33:04.700 That's the mentality that you have to have. 0.98

00:33:06.580 And like, dude, when somebody is upset with your business, you know, you need to think about what they're going to say about you because it fucking matters. 0.91

00:33:13.620 And I know so many companies that don't do that. 0.99

00:33:17.100 They have the attitude of, oh, well, that customer is just a dick. 0.95

00:33:19.920 You know, I when I go to, you know, when we went down and we spoke at we spoke at Tyler and I went to speak at this dealership a while back. 0.94

00:33:28.120 And one of the guys goes, what do you do when a customer is just wrong? 1.00

00:33:31.580 What do you do when a customer is just an asshole? 1.00

00:33:33.200 Well, what's your goal here? 1.00

00:33:35.980 Is your goal to be right or is your goal to fucking make money? 0.98

00:33:38.840 You see what I mean? 0.95

00:33:40.460 And so many guys try to be right instead of trying to take that negativity and turn it into a positive outlet to spread the great word of mouth about your company.

00:33:51.580 You know?

00:33:51.900 Yeah.

00:33:52.080 And that's not.

00:33:54.920 The customer is always right if you're smart.

00:33:57.220 Right.

00:33:57.720 You know?

00:33:58.320 So this is just my observation.

00:33:59.980 You tell me if it's legitimate.

00:34:00.900 You know, people always say there's a thin line between love and hate.

00:34:03.600 I think the opposite is true, too, that there's a thin line between hate and love.

00:34:07.620 And I mean, just to borrow an example from my experience as a pastor, sometimes my loudest critics, once I address them and talk to them, they become your biggest advocate.

00:34:17.980 You're the biggest advocate.

00:34:18.980 100%.

00:34:19.340 There's no question.

00:34:21.920 You have to learn to see people who criticize you and who are unhappy as an opportunity to grow your company.

00:34:27.860 Those people are going to grow your company more than any other person to the point of it's almost worth pissing them off just to get them back.

00:34:36.820 You know what I mean?

00:34:37.320 Because they care.

00:34:38.080 Right.

00:34:38.400 Exactly.

00:34:38.860 Yeah.

00:34:39.140 They've got passion.

00:34:40.200 Yeah.

00:34:41.540 So a couple more questions.

00:34:44.180 Let me back up just for a second.

00:34:46.140 Let me tell you the other thing I for sure say to my younger self.

00:34:49.920 I would tell him that it's going to take at least five times as long as what you think it's going to take.

00:34:59.400 Five times as long.

00:35:01.240 At least. 0.97

00:35:03.240 And that you during that five times as long, if you don't come to work every fucking day and give 100% of the effort that you could possibly give. 0.94

00:35:11.680 And I'm not talking about, well, do your best. 0.96

00:35:13.660 I'm talking about literally 100% of your effort, every fucking ounce of effort into your customers, into your employees, into growing your business.

00:35:21.820 If you don't do that during that extra five times that you think it's going to not take to grow your business, I'm telling you it will. 0.99

00:35:30.200 You will not fucking make it. 0.99

00:35:32.480 You won't. 0.99

00:35:33.780 People want it.

00:35:34.540 People want it now.

00:35:35.580 They want it in three years.

00:35:36.680 They have that saying, you know, oh, it takes three years to grow a business.

00:35:39.920 Really?

00:35:40.860 It takes three years to be able to go to dinner and not worry about it.

00:35:44.200 That's what it takes three years.

00:35:46.540 Okay?

00:35:47.480 Do you think what they mean is it takes three years to actually get in the black? 0.96

00:35:51.280 I don't know what the fuck it means because it's not true in any way. 0.97

00:35:53.780 Yeah. 0.99

00:35:54.100 I don't know what the fuck it means. 0.99

00:35:55.060 I don't know who said that. 1.00

00:35:56.020 I think it's the dumbest thing I ever fucking heard. 1.00

00:35:58.020 Right. 1.00

00:35:58.380 Some businesses make it in one year.

00:36:00.400 Right.

00:36:00.720 But the point is that those are the exceptions, not the rule. 0.96

00:36:04.060 If you're in a typical small business and you're going to have to grind it out until you figure out what the fuck you're doing, it's going to take you time. 0.98

00:36:11.940 And it's going to take you a lot longer than fucking two years. 0.98

00:36:15.220 Oh, I'm going to go in two years without a paycheck. 0.98

00:36:17.760 So?

00:36:18.480 Right. 1.00

00:36:19.020 That's normal shit. 1.00

00:36:20.840 Don't be an entrepreneur then. 1.00

00:36:22.520 Go be something else.

00:36:23.800 Right. 0.99

00:36:24.180 There's plenty of things that will pay you next fucking week. 0.98

00:36:27.100 You know what I mean? 0.99

00:36:27.940 Yeah, absolutely.

00:36:28.820 So let me flip this on its head a little bit.

00:36:30.300 You just got finished saying that if you don't pay attention and don't put all your effort into creating customer experience, that's death.

00:36:40.140 But then the flip side of that is what if your younger self said, man, I'm stressing out all about, you know, all about these different things.

00:36:47.000 What if you said to him, listen, here are the things you're stressing out about that in reality, they're kind of small potatoes.

00:36:54.500 You really shouldn't have to.

00:36:56.220 You're giving them too much attention.

00:36:58.760 Is there anything like that in entrepreneurship?

00:37:00.100 Yeah, for sure.

00:37:00.740 Personal relationships. 0.98

00:37:02.660 The people you're friends with now in the beginning of your business are not going to be the same fucking people you're friends with 10 years from now.

00:37:07.800 The girlfriend you're with now, the boyfriend you're with now is not going to be the same person you're with 10 years from now, especially if you're an entrepreneur. 0.96

00:37:12.940 You don't fucking owe that person anything, okay? 0.99

00:37:16.560 When you come home from fucking work and that person says, oh, Andy, you don't spend any fucking time with me. 0.99

00:37:23.140 Well, yeah, because I'm busy building a fucking company and building a future, okay? 1.00

00:37:27.380 And if you don't like to get the fuck out, go be a broke fucking motherfucker on the street. 1.00

00:37:31.820 I don't give a fuck. 1.00

00:37:33.040 And I spent far too much time fucking dealing with people that didn't fucking get what I was trying to do where that sucked the life out of me. 0.99

00:37:40.280 You only have so much positive energy in a 24-hour period. 0.99

00:37:43.620 And if you spend that positive energy dealing with people that don't understand your mission or don't understand what the fuck you're trying to do,

00:37:49.180 you're going to have a really hard time creating anything worthwhile because you're spending the energy in the wrong places. 0.99

00:37:55.980 And I think a lot of people spend it in fucking relationships. 1.00

00:37:58.720 And then they'll do this shit. 1.00

00:38:00.340 I'll tell them exactly what I just said. 1.00

00:38:02.020 They'll say, oh, dude, that sounds heartless.

00:38:04.000 Well, you know what? 0.99

00:38:04.720 I'm fucking being a realist. 0.99

00:38:06.180 I'm not here to play snow fucking white and, you know, tell you that everything's going to be fucking perfect because it isn't. 1.00

00:38:13.040 Your girlfriend or boyfriend or whoever the fuck you're with is probably going to want to go out and drink beer on the fucking weekends 1.00

00:38:18.300 and party and do all this shit that costs money, but they're going to not want you to work to earn that money. 0.99

00:38:23.340 And that's the reality. 0.99

00:38:24.760 And I see that all the time.

00:38:25.720 And they're like, but I love her.

00:38:27.240 Really? 0.99

00:38:27.700 Well, she doesn't fucking love you because if she loved you, she'd be supporting you and what the fuck you're trying to do. 1.00

00:38:32.080 And vice versa. 1.00

00:38:34.800 So, you know, having these personal relationships and they're delusional, they're delusional.

00:38:40.940 They're the same people you see in a bar when you're 22 years old trying to start a business and you're 37, you see them in a bar and they're coming up to you being like, oh, he's believed in you. 0.99

00:38:50.980 It's the same person that was giving you shit fucking 15 years earlier. 1.00

00:38:53.900 Right. 1.00

00:38:54.600 You know, fuck those people, dude. 1.00

00:38:56.140 Right. 1.00

00:38:56.680 You don't owe them anything.

00:38:57.780 You certainly don't owe them the potential future of you.

00:39:00.320 And a lot of people will say, oh, dude, that sounds very mean.

00:39:03.240 Well, it's the truth.

00:39:05.100 If you don't have somebody to support you, if you don't have somebody that gets what you're trying to do, they shouldn't be in your life and you shouldn't be wasting your energy on that.

00:39:12.160 You've got to take care of you.

00:39:13.220 You come in this world, you go out this world alone and anywhere.

00:39:17.180 And you have an obligation to the people that you really care about to take care of you first.

00:39:21.960 And people will certain the right people will get that and respect that and love you for that. 1.00

00:39:27.240 Not give you fucking shit. 1.00

00:39:28.560 And they not make things hard, like when you're working at work and then going out and being a fucking slut at the club all fucking night. 1.00

00:39:35.020 Right. 0.99

00:39:35.400 You see what I mean?

00:39:36.020 Mm-hmm.

00:39:36.820 Mm-hmm.

00:39:37.480 So while we're on the issue of relationships, you do have some people that have been around first form for quite a while.

00:39:43.840 And these were people that in the early going were investing blood, sweat, and tears, and they weren't getting paid.

00:39:50.760 So what if your younger self or let's say just some entrepreneur who's out there in a similar situation says, man, Andy, I've got these people that seem to be really supportive of me.

00:40:02.480 They want to kill it, too, but I just can't pay them.

00:40:06.200 Like, how do you keep people involved in that?

00:40:07.680 First of all, you've got to pay them something.

00:40:08.260 You've got to pay them something.

00:40:09.040 Yeah.

00:40:09.340 I mean, I've never ever had anybody work for me for free.

00:40:12.780 Mm-hmm.

00:40:13.380 Okay?

00:40:13.860 I've had people work for me when I wasn't getting paid and I had to pay them a reasonable salary for their talents.

00:40:20.900 But those are the sacrifices that you make when you're building something.

00:40:23.880 Mm-hmm.

00:40:24.280 You know what I mean?

00:40:25.320 You pay people first to do jobs that you need to get done before you pay yourself.

00:40:29.300 It's an investment.

00:40:30.700 Is it fair? 0.98

00:40:32.300 Well, it's fair whenever you start making millions of fucking dollars and they're still making what they make or a little bit more than that. 0.99

00:40:39.600 It's a sacrifice. 0.98

00:40:41.340 You know what I mean?

00:40:41.840 Yeah.

00:40:41.880 A lot of people can't look past that.

00:40:43.140 They can't let their egos say, oh, well, I got five or six, seven, ten employees that are making more money than me.

00:40:49.080 That's normal. 1.00

00:40:50.260 That's normal shit. 1.00

00:40:51.400 Yeah. 1.00

00:40:51.860 You know what I mean? 0.96

00:40:52.440 When somebody has a skill that you don't have and that you need, you've got to fucking invest in that skill. 0.95

00:40:56.620 Mm-hmm. 0.94

00:40:57.240 You know? 0.95

00:40:57.880 So, now, going back to your question, how do you get people to, let's say, make less money because they believe in what the fuck you're doing and they want to be a part of it?

00:41:11.820 That's just being open with your business plan and your goals and what you're trying to do and understanding what their role is and what it's going to be as things move forward.

00:41:19.700 You know, when you're starting a company and you're in the first two or three years, five years of your company, you know, it's not going to be this glorious thing that people want to be a part of.

00:41:31.000 So, you're going to have to create something on paper or in people's minds and paint the picture for them of what they're actually investing in.

00:41:38.400 What is this field of planting going to look like in five years?

00:41:43.720 You know, what is this company going to look like in 10 years?

00:41:46.780 What part are they going to play?

00:41:48.940 You know, what are we going to do as a team?

00:41:51.820 You know, you have to be able to paint that picture.

00:41:53.520 That's your job as the owner of the company or the CEO.

00:41:56.500 If you can't make people believe in your company or your vision, you're going to not be very effective at recruiting, you know, good talent to come work for you.

00:42:05.660 You know what I mean?

00:42:06.700 Yeah.

00:42:07.720 So, let me get really specific and switch this up.

00:42:10.080 Just a couple of questions about actual, like literal specific topics of entrepreneurship.

00:42:15.900 So, we've all seen the picture of the original Supplement Superstore, what, signage?

00:42:21.240 If you're talking to either your old or your young self or a modern day, you know, ground zero entrepreneur, and they say to you, Andy, how much value do you place on just getting just the exact right name or the exact right brand colors or the exact right logo?

00:42:41.840 How much of that stuff did you, I mean, how much emphasis did you put on that? 0.99

00:42:45.560 That shit all evolves. 1.00

00:42:46.840 I mean, the first version is going to suck. 1.00

00:42:48.440 Like, you know, if your first version doesn't suck, then you're suffering from paralysis by analysis and you're not taking enough action. 0.94

00:42:58.900 You know, you're going to have to evolve.

00:43:00.620 You know, you're going to have to put something out there and people are going to say, oh, that's weird.

00:43:04.380 I don't like that.

00:43:05.040 And then you're going to change it.

00:43:06.420 And then you're going to improve it.

00:43:09.180 You know, look at some of the big companies now, like Amazon. 0.97

00:43:12.780 What the fuck does that mean? 0.98

00:43:14.000 Zappos. 0.99

00:43:14.500 What does that mean? 1.00

00:43:15.340 It doesn't matter what the fucking word is. 0.99

00:43:17.420 It's what it stands for. 0.99

00:43:19.040 And you do that through creating a culture in your company, which I don't expect an entry level entrepreneur to understand how to do.

00:43:27.240 But as you evolve your company and you learn more, you're going to learn how to instill a culture on purpose.

00:43:33.980 And when you do that, whatever symbol you have that represents that will become significant.

00:43:40.940 Does that make sense?

00:43:41.920 Yeah, absolutely.

00:43:43.080 Because people, when they see logos nowadays, I mean, the logo could possibly not tell you anything about the company.

00:43:49.040 But it stands for something when they see it.

00:43:50.200 Right, exactly.

00:43:50.860 And that comes by instilling the culture.

00:43:53.980 Right.

00:43:54.420 So, if you don't instill a culture and you don't understand what that means at this point in time, but you're in business and you have you and another employee, you know, you could start that right now.

00:44:09.120 You know, but most people don't.

00:44:10.300 Most businesses don't even have a culture.

00:44:11.680 If you ask them how's their culture, they interpret that as morale.

00:44:14.860 What's the morale like?

00:44:15.840 You know, morale and culture are two different things.

00:44:18.960 You know, oh, everybody's happy here.

00:44:20.700 Everybody's happy.

00:44:21.240 That's morale.

00:44:22.360 That's not culture. 1.00

00:44:23.480 Culture's what the fuck you stand for. 0.99

00:44:25.700 You know what I mean? 1.00

00:44:26.580 It's core value shit. 0.99

00:44:27.980 And you have to learn how to create that intentionally. 0.99

00:44:34.600 And a good book on that is Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh.

00:44:38.980 So, that's the founder of Zappos.

00:44:42.120 But, you know, to answer your question, I don't really think it's that.

00:44:46.640 I don't think it's the end all be all of anything.

00:44:48.360 I think it's what you do that brings significance to those things that matters.

00:44:53.560 You know what I mean?

00:44:54.140 Look at some of the, like, famous logos in business.

00:44:57.780 I mean, they're so simple.

00:44:59.040 They're nothing.

00:44:59.900 You know what I mean?

00:45:00.540 Right.

00:45:00.740 Well, who would have thought that the profile of a fruit would be eventually associated with a swoosh, a checkmark?

00:45:09.680 Yeah, or a checkmark.

00:45:10.440 Right.

00:45:10.520 You know what I mean?

00:45:11.300 Associated with a computer company.

00:45:13.960 It's not the symbol.

00:45:14.920 It's the value you make it stand for.

00:45:17.600 Right.

00:45:18.860 Well, guys, if you want the show notes for this episode, just check out themfceo.com forward slash p57.

00:45:27.060 And Andy, once again, anticipated my final question, which is just you talked about culture.

00:45:32.680 So give your young self a couple practical things you can do every day to advance the core values of your company.

00:45:43.060 Well, first of all, you got to identify what you stand for. 0.99

00:45:45.620 You know, most people have these bullshit fucking things written on the wall of their company. 0.99

00:45:50.520 We stand for integrity, value, and experience. 1.00

00:45:55.480 And, you know, you look at those things, you're like, what the fuck does that mean?

00:45:59.980 So you have to identify what it is you stand for in detail so that people can actually understand that and apply that. 0.85

00:46:10.040 And then what you have to do is you have to start speaking to your customers and your employees in that language.

00:46:16.620 You know what I mean?

00:46:18.000 So when you talk about enthusiasm, you know, are you talking about going the extra mile?

00:46:23.720 Are you talking about, you know, believing?

00:46:26.580 Are you talking about developing discipline?

00:46:29.980 You know, everything that you coach your employees on should fall into those categories and you should tie that back to that.

00:46:36.840 Hey, you know, you didn't do this, this, and this.

00:46:38.940 You didn't clean the bathroom today, even though it's on the checklist.

00:46:42.760 That falls under be discipline.

00:46:44.000 That's one of our core values.

00:46:45.060 We hire and we fire by these core values.

00:46:48.280 You know, you've got to develop that skill.

00:46:50.300 Even though it's a small thing, you've got to do it.

00:46:52.160 You see what I'm saying?

00:46:53.140 And you have to tie your language together with your employees on the core values.

00:46:57.920 And that's going to basically, it'll get the idea in their head of, okay, this is acceptable here or this is not acceptable here.

00:47:05.760 And guess what?

00:47:06.380 When the new guy or the new girl comes in, guess what they tell them? 1.00

00:47:10.140 Hey, dude, that shit ain't going to fly here. 0.99

00:47:12.240 They start taking pride in it, right? 1.00

00:47:13.900 They're like, hey, you know, you didn't clean the fucking bathroom today, bro. 1.00

00:47:18.440 I don't know where the fuck you worked at before, but we don't, this shit ain't going to fly here. 1.00

00:47:22.280 You clean the fucking bathroom. 1.00

00:47:23.640 Right. 1.00

00:47:23.900 You see what I'm saying?

00:47:24.540 Right.

00:47:24.760 Absolutely.

00:47:25.220 You know, or like you didn't carry out the bag of groceries for that customer or whatever. 0.99

00:47:30.500 He said, hey, I don't know what fucking store you worked at, but this is fucking, this is Acme fucking grocery store. 1.00

00:47:37.560 And we carry this shit out for these motherfuckers. 1.00

00:47:39.400 And you better fucking do it or your ass won't be here. 1.00

00:47:41.280 And they'll regulate employees for you because they believe in the culture, you know, but it's by design. 1.00

00:47:46.500 It's not by accident. 0.89

00:47:47.780 And most, most entrepreneurs, ironically, if you ask them what culture means, they can't even fucking tell you what it is. 0.84

00:47:54.120 You know what I mean? 0.64

00:47:54.580 They're like, oh, oh, it's good.

00:47:58.680 It's good.

00:47:59.700 How's your culture?

00:48:00.360 What's it, what is your culture?

00:48:04.740 That's what they sound like.

00:48:06.020 And like, dude, you know, first of all, let's learn what culture is.

00:48:09.580 It's the lifeblood of your business. 1.00

00:48:11.240 It's the living, breathing soul of your fucking company. 1.00

00:48:15.160 It's what it stands for. 1.00

00:48:16.160 It's what customers identify with.

00:48:17.500 It's what your employees identify with.

00:48:19.440 And you're going to have to develop the communication skills that go along with that and use them consistently.

00:48:25.700 And what will happen is your employees will start to embody it.

00:48:28.640 Your customers will start to identify and love it.

00:48:31.320 And then you'll have something.

00:48:32.860 Then you have, you've got something that's tangible.

00:48:35.580 You can feel it.

00:48:36.300 You can smell it when you walk into a place. 0.99

00:48:38.860 I mean, dude, I can smell culture when I walk into an office in one fucking second. 0.98

00:48:43.840 Dude, could you not, when we went to VaynerMedia, did you not feel it? 0.98

00:48:47.020 Oh, yeah. Energy. It was their energy.

00:48:49.400 Yeah.

00:48:49.660 It's the soul.

00:48:50.860 Yeah.

00:48:51.280 You know, and, you know, people get that when they come in here.

00:48:54.900 When they come in our office, they're like, dude, this is fucking awesome. 0.74

00:48:57.720 Right. 0.65

00:48:58.040 You know, or if they go into one of our stores, it's the same thing.

00:49:00.480 Right. 0.97

00:49:00.920 You know, and the easiest thing to stand for is to do the right fucking thing because everybody gets down with that. 0.98

00:49:07.020 Right. 0.98

00:49:07.240 You know?

00:49:08.060 So I confess that I know about that because I hang out with you and I've learned the whole concept of culture.

00:49:12.940 Or is it fair to say that another word you could use is personality?

00:49:19.640 It's very similar.

00:49:20.660 Okay.

00:49:21.040 Yeah.

00:49:21.500 Yeah.

00:49:21.940 It's a very similar, you know, it's the personality of your business.

00:49:24.700 I would say that's, I wouldn't say in substitute.

00:49:26.860 I would say in, you know, in conjunction with like the soul.

00:49:31.460 It's the soul.

00:49:32.020 It's the personality.

00:49:32.880 It's the feeling.

00:49:33.980 Yeah.

00:49:34.280 You know, it's all those things.

00:49:35.940 Yeah.

00:49:36.580 You know what I mean?

00:49:37.260 Yeah.

00:49:37.760 The very DNA of the company.

00:49:39.020 You have to be around a company that has a culture to understand what culture is.

00:49:43.280 Okay.

00:49:43.500 So we could do a whole podcast on this.

00:49:45.600 Yeah.

00:49:45.780 I mean, we might have already.

00:49:46.780 I don't know if we did or didn't.

00:49:47.500 We haven't done one on culture.

00:49:48.580 We absolutely should.

00:49:49.420 Yeah.

00:49:49.540 Okay.

00:49:50.880 Harley Davidson motorcycles. 0.99

00:49:52.420 Why do people fucking ride Harleys? 0.99

00:49:54.840 Why do they ride them? 0.99

00:49:56.960 Well, I would say why I would is just a sense of belonging with a group of like-minded people.

00:50:03.220 But it's obviously a quality product.

00:50:05.300 But there's just, I can't answer.

00:50:07.280 I don't know.

00:50:07.300 There's a lot of motorcycles that are better than Harleys.

00:50:08.520 Well, that's true.

00:50:09.080 But I guess I can't answer the question without actually using the word culture.

00:50:13.380 There's just a culture.

00:50:14.540 It's a whole subculture in America that has certain features. 0.97

00:50:18.200 You can ride up to a Harley fucking ride and look like you, a clean cut, you know, and 0.99

00:50:24.140 be a clean cut fucking white pastor, you know, dude, right? 1.00

00:50:30.340 And you can roll up and there'll be a dude on a Harley with the fucking beard down to 1.00

00:50:33.900 his belt buckle. 1.00

00:50:34.920 And if you ride a Harley and he rides a Harley, you're fucking brothers. 1.00

00:50:37.840 Mm-hmm. 1.00

00:50:38.700 Right?

00:50:39.200 And that's what culture is. 1.00

00:50:40.660 That's what makes people go get a fucking tattoo of a logo. 0.99

00:50:44.180 Which, by the way, S2 and First Form both have tons of people with those kind of tattoos. 0.99

00:50:50.020 Mm-hmm.

00:50:50.360 All right? 1.00

00:50:50.760 When you have people going to get tattoos on their skin of your fucking logo, you've got 1.00

00:50:56.860 a culture. 1.00

00:50:57.420 Yeah.

00:50:57.480 You're getting it.

00:50:58.660 Okay?

00:51:01.000 Harley-Davidson, you know, you can't even walk into a tattoo shop across the earth without

00:51:04.560 a little section of HD tattoos.

00:51:06.580 That's very true.

00:51:07.220 You know what I'm saying?

00:51:07.800 Yeah. 1.00

00:51:08.000 Dude, if you want to study on culture, study that fucking brand. 1.00

00:51:10.820 Yeah. 1.00

00:51:11.260 You know what I mean?

00:51:11.700 There's other brands too.

00:51:12.620 This is Apple.

00:51:13.480 Apple's got a great culture.

00:51:14.560 What's Apple's culture? 1.00

00:51:15.740 The nerdy dude at the fucking Starbucks, you know, with the fucking trendy shit on. 1.00

00:51:20.200 Do I use Apple? 1.00

00:51:20.900 I think they're great products. 1.00

00:51:21.740 But the point is, is all the little fucking Apple nerds all get together and fucking celebrate 0.99

00:51:25.580 together. 1.00

00:51:26.180 Yeah.

00:51:26.500 You know what I mean?

00:51:27.020 And they all entrepreneur together. 0.99

00:51:28.160 And I'm entrepreneuring with my fucking Nixon quotes up. 0.99

00:51:31.940 Right. 0.99

00:51:32.180 Right.

00:51:32.560 Well, you know.

00:51:33.920 Hey, bro.

00:51:34.540 Maybe. 0.99

00:51:34.920 How many dollars do you think we can raise in BC this year with my fucking app idea? 0.95

00:51:39.700 How, I mean, I guess once you get to the point where your customers are saying, you 0.97

00:51:44.460 know, if somebody asks them, why do you buy such and such?

00:51:46.880 If their answer is because it's fill in the name of your business.

00:51:50.520 Let me tell you why people buy. 0.99

00:51:52.300 Why do people buy your shit other than good, good. 0.99

00:51:56.160 Every product is a commodity. 1.00

00:51:58.260 Every fucking product. 1.00

00:51:59.560 It's a commodity. 0.99

00:52:01.740 There's not one thing I could think of and product wise in the world that the leader is 0.97

00:52:07.700 so much better than the fucking second competitor that it's that big of a difference. 0.93

00:52:11.920 You people will argue Mac and PC. 0.99

00:52:14.540 I don't, I disagree. 0.99

00:52:15.860 They're both fucking great. 0.99

00:52:17.020 I agree. 0.99

00:52:17.340 People will argue Apple, Android.

00:52:20.100 They're both great. 0.98

00:52:21.100 They're fucking one centimeter one way or the other at any given time. 0.99

00:52:24.900 People will argue Ford, Chevy. 1.00

00:52:26.800 It's the same fucking thing. 1.00

00:52:28.120 People will argue, you know, Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, all the fucking same. 0.99

00:52:32.800 Just a little bit differences, right? 0.98

00:52:35.000 None's what we're talking about, you know, measurable differences of millimeters or fractions

00:52:40.900 of a second, right?

00:52:43.420 So what makes something choose one over the other?

00:52:47.760 It's people buy from people they identify with and people they like.

00:52:51.620 Right.

00:52:52.100 That's it.

00:52:52.660 Right. 1.00

00:52:53.100 You make a friend, you make a fucking sale. 1.00

00:52:55.020 You make people feel belonged, you make a sale. 0.99

00:52:57.960 You're really good at making people belong, you create a movement and you have a culture.

00:53:01.500 Right.

00:53:01.700 But dude, most people can't do it because, and I'm going to tell you why most people can't

00:53:05.820 do it. 0.96

00:53:06.300 And this is why I'm not afraid to fucking talk about it because I'm a fucking expert at culture 0.99

00:53:11.460 and I'm not afraid to say that. 0.99

00:53:14.740 We had a thousand fucking people show up at a supplement company for Summer Smash last 0.99

00:53:19.000 year to fucking celebrate vitamins. 1.00

00:53:21.900 Are you fucking kidding me? 1.00

00:53:22.900 We have a fucking culture. 1.00

00:53:24.260 Yeah. 1.00

00:53:24.680 Okay.

00:53:25.960 You know why nobody else can do that?

00:53:28.120 Because no one else is genuine.

00:53:29.900 No one else is real.

00:53:31.480 Everybody else is all about making the dollar, making the margin, making the profit today.

00:53:36.340 And they're not about the long game.

00:53:38.180 They don't understand that if you take care of people first, they'll take care of you.

00:53:41.640 And I believe that. 0.99

00:53:42.720 And I believe it enough to where I put my fucking money where my mouth is and in that type of 0.99

00:53:48.220 system. 0.99

00:53:49.280 And I would suggest that you do the same, but it takes balls because when you don't have any

00:53:54.780 money and you don't have momentum and you haven't built anything yet to, to basically

00:53:59.560 give more than you take, it's very hard to do.

00:54:04.040 Right.

00:54:04.560 You know what I mean?

00:54:05.580 So, I mean, we could do a whole podcast on this whole thing.

00:54:09.220 We should.

00:54:09.900 Yeah. 0.99

00:54:10.360 But, you know, at the end of the day, whatever the fuck you're selling out there is not better 0.98

00:54:14.840 than the competition. 0.99

00:54:15.560 It's probably the same.

00:54:17.200 Okay.

00:54:18.060 And if you can't get people to identify with your brand, you're going to have a very hard

00:54:24.740 time selling it.

00:54:25.640 Right.

00:54:26.460 Right.

00:54:26.980 Although, I would guess that most of your customers would say that first form is way

00:54:33.340 better than anything else.

00:54:35.000 You know what?

00:54:35.780 I was going to put an asterisk there and not, and I know people are laughing right now. 0.99

00:54:38.960 They're like, oh, of course you're a fucking company. 0.99

00:54:40.960 Right. 1.00

00:54:41.560 We've proven that.

00:54:42.560 You know, we're in an industry where the cheaper is the better. 0.98

00:54:45.900 Well, we've taken that whole, name me one fucking industry where cheap is the best. 0.98

00:54:52.060 I can't. 0.97

00:54:53.140 Supplements is the only one.

00:54:54.060 Yeah.

00:54:54.200 People have the mentality where the cheapest is the best.

00:54:56.860 We've taken, that's because most companies will make things so cheaply and then tell you

00:55:02.340 it's all the same.

00:55:03.740 Right.

00:55:04.460 So that they can make the most amount of margin.

00:55:06.860 All right.

00:55:08.100 We've taken the opposite approach and made the best products and they are definitively

00:55:12.420 and clearly better than the competition, which is why you don't see people ever bashing

00:55:16.800 first form quality.

00:55:17.860 Right.

00:55:18.200 They bash us.

00:55:19.120 Guess what they bash on?

00:55:19.980 The price.

00:55:20.420 That's right.

00:55:20.840 And that's it.

00:55:21.260 And I can deal with that.

00:55:22.080 Yep.

00:55:22.620 I'm not for everybody.

00:55:23.920 Our product's not for everybody.

00:55:25.660 Not everybody can afford our products.

00:55:27.380 I understand that.

00:55:28.320 I'm sorry.

00:55:29.200 But my hope is by listening to this podcast that one day you will get to a point where

00:55:32.300 you can't.

00:55:32.840 Mm-hmm.

00:55:33.560 Okay.

00:55:33.820 Mm-hmm.

00:55:34.580 But the point is, is we're in sports supplements.

00:55:36.860 Our problem is what?

00:55:38.280 Solve people's problems.

00:55:39.300 What is most people's problems that come to us?

00:55:40.680 They want to perform better?

00:55:41.440 They want to lose weight or they want to gain muscle.

00:55:43.340 They're putting things in their body for performance.

00:55:45.720 I owe it to the customer to make the very best products that I can to help them solve

00:55:49.800 that goal.

00:55:50.500 And if they can't afford it or choose not to buy those products, that is not my fault.

00:55:54.640 Mm-hmm.

00:55:55.880 I'm doing what's right.

00:55:57.620 Period.

00:55:59.040 Yeah.

00:55:59.260 So we can, you know, we could say whatever.

00:56:03.640 And, you know, there is situations out there where one thing is better than another. 0.99

00:56:08.680 But generally speaking, and I'm not comparing a fucking Ferrari to a fucking Yugo or a Saturn. 0.98

00:56:17.740 Clearly, there's major differences. 0.98

00:56:19.620 You know, I'm talking about-

00:56:21.060 Products of its kind.

00:56:21.740 Of the same category.

00:56:22.820 Yes.

00:56:23.080 The good, better, best.

00:56:24.080 No.

00:56:24.320 Two products in the best category are not so different that you're going to automatically,

00:56:29.600 you know what I mean?

00:56:30.220 Yeah, absolutely. 0.96

00:56:31.180 I mean, there are other brands that are pretty fucking good. 0.88

00:56:33.200 Right. 0.86

00:56:33.700 And not many.

00:56:34.760 I can think of two that are pretty good.

00:56:36.960 Right.

00:56:37.500 And people might look at that and say, hey, you know what?

00:56:41.340 I'm not going to use First Form this time.

00:56:42.700 I'm going to use this brand this time.

00:56:44.540 And, you know, I get that.

00:56:45.940 But you know why they don't usually do that?

00:56:47.480 Because they like what we stand for.

00:56:49.480 Mm-hmm. 1.00

00:56:49.700 Because we stand for the right shit. 1.00

00:56:51.140 Mm-hmm. 1.00

00:56:52.000 You know?

00:56:52.440 And you could do that in your business too.

00:56:53.940 But it takes work and it takes time and it takes trust.

00:56:56.400 And the first time you violate that trust is the last time you violate that trust.

00:57:00.220 Right.

00:57:00.920 Right.

00:57:01.500 Well, it's a principle that stands true in almost every area of life.

00:57:05.040 I mean, it goes without saying, you look at the history of American politics and when

00:57:10.160 the American people were given a choice between two essentially similar candidates, but one

00:57:14.380 of them just had an ability to connect, was more likable.

00:57:16.740 People buy from people they like.

00:57:18.100 Exactly.

00:57:18.640 That's it.

00:57:19.160 Exactly.

00:57:19.580 You know, you make a friend, you make a sale.

00:57:21.340 Mm-hmm.

00:57:21.520 Make a friend, make a sale.

00:57:23.660 Yeah.

00:57:23.940 Make a friend, make a sale. 1.00

00:57:25.320 People buy from their fucking friends. 1.00

00:57:26.780 Right. 1.00

00:57:27.080 It's really fucking simple. 0.97

00:57:28.280 Right. 1.00

00:57:28.960 Don't worry about the fucking selling. 1.00

00:57:31.360 What did I tell those motherfuckers when we went down to the motorcycle dealership? 1.00

00:57:34.740 Remember? 1.00

00:57:35.380 I said, hey, don't worry.

00:57:36.840 And I'm looking at Tyler right now. 0.99

00:57:38.460 Don't worry about the fucking margin or the commission or whatever it is that you're 0.99

00:57:42.000 going to make in that bike. 1.00

00:57:43.220 Worry about making this dude feel like he's part of the fucking family. 1.00

00:57:46.260 Mm-hmm. 0.99

00:57:46.940 And if you do that, guess what?

00:57:49.180 Not only will you probably sell that bike, but you'll probably sell him bikes for life

00:57:53.420 and you'll sell his friends' bikes for life.

00:57:54.700 Mm-hmm.

00:57:55.360 So quit thinking about the money.

00:57:57.560 Focus on the customer.

00:57:58.980 Focus on solving the problem.

00:58:00.460 Focus on making them happy. 1.00

00:58:02.040 And good shit is going to happen to you. 1.00

00:58:04.220 Right. 1.00

00:58:05.580 Right.

00:58:05.900 So the only thing I would say, wrapping up a little bit here, is just- 1.00

00:58:12.460 Follow us on the fucking internet. 0.99

00:58:13.900 Yeah. 1.00

00:58:14.560 I would also say, just humor me.

00:58:16.420 I'm curious.

00:58:17.120 Follow us on Snapchat.

00:58:18.720 And Snapchat, yeah.

00:58:19.660 Andy, real quick. 0.99

00:58:20.460 Follow us on fucking Facebook, too. 1.00

00:58:24.340 Leave us a motherfucking review. 1.00

00:58:26.440 Yeah, that's important. 0.99

00:58:27.800 I think it'd be important for you to discuss why you tell everybody that works in your retail

00:58:32.920 side, and First Form, too.

00:58:34.540 Why do you think you tell every single employee to look at every single customer as $100,000?

00:58:42.940 Yeah.

00:58:43.600 You've got to trade.

00:58:44.360 Okay.

00:58:44.960 I train all my guys to look at the lifetime value of the customer, always.

00:58:50.180 Always look at the lifetime value.

00:58:51.920 Even if they're-

00:58:52.540 Because it prevents them from looking at the sale today.

00:58:55.240 That's right.

00:58:55.840 So if you can envision a customer, and our lifetime value is around $100,000 for a customer.

00:59:01.940 Mm-hmm.

00:59:02.420 So if you look at yourself as in the business of acquiring customers as opposed to selling 0.98

00:59:07.420 shit, you're going to be very successful because you have to understand the lifetime 0.95

00:59:12.020 value of that customer is far more valuable than anything you could do today. 1.00

00:59:16.300 Like, you could give the person their whole fucking order or whatever it is they bought

00:59:19.400 for free today to make them happy and create a lifetime customer, and it would still be 0.98

00:59:23.880 worth it.

00:59:24.940 And you have to get your people to think that way and be okay with that and empower them

00:59:28.460 to make those kinds of decisions.

00:59:30.260 Because if you can't take care of that person and make them happy and you lose that lifetime

00:59:35.260 customer today, you didn't lose the $75 sale today or the $150 sale today or even the $2,000

00:59:43.460 sale today for some of you guys who sell bigger ticket products.

00:59:46.400 Because you lost the lifetime value of that customer, and not only the lifetime value of

00:59:50.640 that customer, but all their friends, family, and their network.

00:59:54.000 And there's infinite value to that.

00:59:56.540 And so you have to train your employees to understand that on every level possible.

01:00:02.080 Tyler's been working here for probably six, what, six years?

01:00:05.160 I think five or six.

01:00:05.800 Five, six years with me on and off.

01:00:07.820 He worked for S2, a retail store, and he's worked for First Form, both companies.

01:00:11.880 I don't think there's been a meeting that we've had in that amount of time that I haven't

01:00:15.480 brought that up. 0.99

01:00:16.440 I think every single fucking meeting, I bring that up. 0.98

01:00:18.600 Well, it totally changes your mindset on how you look at a customer. 0.99

01:00:20.860 I literally tell them to look at a customer and envision a fucking comic book bubble above 0.99

01:00:27.240 their head with $100,000 in it. 1.00

01:00:29.820 And if you fucking can do that, if you could train yourself to do that, you will treat your 0.99

01:00:35.140 customers a thousand times better. 0.99

01:00:38.460 That's really good.

01:00:39.280 Yeah.

01:00:40.000 Yeah.

01:00:40.340 And we, I mean, but saying is one thing, doing it's another.

01:00:46.820 You know what I mean?

01:00:48.300 Sometimes you're going to have to give up money today to make that customer right.

01:00:52.300 Sometimes you're going to have to do things today that cost you money to make that customer

01:00:55.260 right, to keep that $100,000 intact.

01:00:58.520 Yeah.

01:00:59.000 Or whatever it is.

01:00:59.740 It could be $10 million for some of you guys listening.

01:01:01.960 We don't know. 0.96

01:01:03.400 But the point is, is you don't fucking know who that person's going to tell, what they're 0.97

01:01:06.600 going to do. 0.99

01:01:07.520 You know, you just have no fucking clue. 0.99

01:01:09.760 So treat them as if they're the number one person. 0.99

01:01:13.540 First of all, the only, everybody says, oh, treat them as your only customer.

01:01:16.280 Well, not only that, but treat them as if they're not only your only customer, but they're the

01:01:21.140 only way you're going to get new customers.

01:01:23.300 You know what I mean?

01:01:24.260 Absolutely.

01:01:24.580 And I know you would say not just before any sale, but before, during, and after.

01:01:29.060 I think you knew that I recently bought a car, was pretty happy with the sales process,

01:01:33.920 but shocked when two weeks later, I have a flat tire, which is not a big deal.

01:01:39.460 I picked up a nail.

01:01:40.580 There's nothing they could do about it.

01:01:41.960 But found out that they had not sold me the special key to take the bolt off.

01:01:47.580 So when I called the dealer, they're like, oh, yeah, we had no idea.

01:01:52.440 So yeah, we're a Toyota dealer and that's a Honda.

01:01:55.400 So why don't you call the Honda people, see what they know.

01:01:58.080 I was flabbergasted.

01:01:59.920 These guys don't know that I have probably three more cars that I'm going to buy in the

01:02:05.040 next four years.

01:02:06.660 Right.

01:02:07.540 There's no way I'm going back to them.

01:02:08.920 Right.

01:02:09.400 None.

01:02:09.600 All because of something that they could have sold for like five bucks.

01:02:12.520 Right.

01:02:13.060 Well, I mean, it was more than that.

01:02:14.380 It's like a $200, you know, the special Honda key and everything.

01:02:17.060 They could have went down.

01:02:17.960 Oh, you mean they could have done it. 0.99

01:02:19.280 They could have went to fucking Honda and said, hey, my bro down here broke down. 0.99

01:02:23.920 Let me borrow your tool. 0.99

01:02:24.540 I'm going to go take care of it.

01:02:25.240 Yeah. 0.99

01:02:25.580 Cost them five fucking dollars in that for it. 0.99

01:02:26.960 Yeah. 1.00

01:02:27.560 Yeah.

01:02:28.080 I literally, I was like, well, that shows how you value me.

01:02:31.480 You valued me before I bought it.

01:02:33.020 Yeah.

01:02:33.200 But Vaughn, that's the competitive advantage that everybody listening right now has.

01:02:38.260 Okay.

01:02:38.620 We talked about your products being commodity, which they are, unless they're in the like

01:02:42.140 small percentile of unique innovative products, which yours probably aren't.

01:02:47.160 I'm sorry.

01:02:47.820 Right. 0.99

01:02:48.020 Everybody thinks they are, but they fucking aren't. 0.97

01:02:50.360 When you're in that business of selling that sort of product or information or service, how 0.98

01:02:57.240 do you differentiate yourself through culture and through service?

01:02:59.920 And that's it. 0.99

01:03:00.960 And you can dominate your fucking competition by mastering those two. 0.99

01:03:05.480 And I think that's a perfect way to end. 0.99

01:03:08.540 Yeah. 0.98

01:03:08.860 So, hey, all you motherfuckers listening right now, if you found value in this podcast, I 0.93

01:03:13.800 would really appreciate it if you would please follow me on social media and also leave us 0.82

01:03:20.000 a review on the podcast, please.

01:03:21.260 Where do we leave the reviews?

01:03:23.900 On iTunes?

01:03:24.640 Yeah.

01:03:25.000 Just go to iTunes.

01:03:25.860 And some people are confused by this and it kind of sucks, but as far as I know, you cannot

01:03:30.500 leave a review on iTunes through your iPhone.

01:03:33.120 See, what you don't understand is that I made a deal with Apple that if you're a regular

01:03:37.500 listener to an MSCO project and you don't leave a review, you won't be able to listen

01:03:41.060 next time.

01:03:41.540 That's right.

01:03:42.100 Yeah. 0.99

01:03:42.480 So, if you don't leave a fucking review, I'll see you later. 0.99

01:03:45.740 Yeah. 0.99

01:03:45.940 The only other thing I want to say is that, you know, people, I love Canada.

01:03:49.580 So, apparently, I got some wrong information or I misunderstood about the issue. 1.00

01:03:53.480 Fuck Canada. 1.00

01:03:54.120 No, I love Canada. 1.00

01:03:55.680 I'm just kidding.

01:03:56.120 I love Canada, too.

01:03:56.780 I actually like British Columbia.

01:03:57.480 It's really great.

01:03:58.040 But anyway, some of you were getting on me for misinformation about cooking meat in Canada.

01:04:03.500 So, my bad.

01:04:05.080 Dude.

01:04:05.660 Oh, Canada.

01:04:06.320 I love you.

01:04:08.140 Hey, look, man.

01:04:09.540 If you're going to get upset that you made a mistake about cooking meat, you're one of 1.00

01:04:13.360 those people that probably shouldn't listen to the fucking show. 1.00

01:04:15.260 Yeah. 1.00

01:04:15.700 Yeah.

01:04:15.860 One more worthless question since we're talking about the Back to the Future thing. 1.00

01:04:19.660 Motherfuckers. 1.00

01:04:20.080 Yes, exactly. 1.00

01:04:21.120 So, I'm just curious.

01:04:21.760 I didn't get enough of those in today.

01:04:22.700 If you had an opportunity to go back in time, one thing being personal, one thing being historical.

01:04:29.500 Personal? 0.99

01:04:30.120 I wouldn't have wasted time with the fucking personal relationships that I had. 0.98

01:04:33.740 No, I'm talking about if you went back in time to actually relive like a day or a moment 0.98

01:04:37.800 or experience back in time that's personal, what would it be?

01:04:41.360 Oh. 1.00

01:04:41.640 So, fuck, I don't know. 1.00

01:04:44.840 All right. 1.00

01:04:45.360 What about historical?

01:04:47.620 I don't think that way.

01:04:48.860 Yeah.

01:04:49.180 Like, I...

01:04:49.920 The past is the past?

01:04:50.920 Emily said something to me the other day about that, too.

01:04:52.860 Like, I forgot what the question was and she asked me and I'm like, I can't answer that

01:04:57.000 because I don't think that way.

01:04:58.380 Yeah.

01:04:58.520 Like, I don't think...

01:05:00.400 I'm not one of these people that looks at the past and thinks of the good old days.

01:05:03.840 Like, I just don't.

01:05:04.860 I look to the future and how great the future is going to be and I try to enjoy the day.

01:05:09.500 Yeah.

01:05:09.780 And I look at the past, good or bad, as just what it is.

01:05:14.900 You know what I mean?

01:05:15.620 I don't regret...

01:05:16.940 I really don't regret things.

01:05:18.340 I don't.

01:05:19.280 Like, I...

01:05:20.640 You know, and I've done some things that I'm not proud of, but I don't regret them because

01:05:24.020 if I hadn't done them, then I wouldn't know to not do them now.

01:05:27.640 Right. 0.96

01:05:27.880 When it fucking matters. 0.99

01:05:28.900 Right. 0.99

01:05:29.400 See what I'm saying?

01:05:30.000 Yeah, no, that makes no sense.

01:05:31.240 So, I don't look at the past as...

01:05:32.560 I mean, what do you think, Tyler? 0.95

01:05:33.640 I mean, dude, I get that shit all the time, especially when I tell people, oh, I've been 0.96

01:05:36.780 divorced and they're like, oh, sorry. 0.99

01:05:38.060 It's like, why are you... 0.99

01:05:38.840 Well, you try to throw out the divorce thing so you can fucking try to pick up some chicks 1.00

01:05:41.660 on the podcast. 0.98

01:05:42.240 He's pretty smooth.

01:05:44.200 Wow.

01:05:44.800 Oh, you didn't know that, huh?

01:05:49.080 Dude.

01:05:49.640 But yeah, I get that all the time and it's like, dude, I don't regret anything because it's got

01:05:52.880 me...

01:05:53.360 Whatever happened in my past got me where I am now.

01:05:55.660 Yeah, man.

01:05:55.820 And people get hung up in their past, dude.

01:05:58.400 Oh, dude.

01:05:58.460 Like you said, they always use it as an excuse on why they aren't where they want to be.

01:06:04.260 Tyler knows because he travels with me when I go speak and people...

01:06:07.480 Well, and I taught you everything, you know.

01:06:08.740 Yeah, pretty much.

01:06:09.500 Yeah.

01:06:09.680 Except for my fashion skills.

01:06:11.480 Yeah.

01:06:11.700 I taught myself those.

01:06:12.260 Very true.

01:06:12.980 So, dude, you know, I'll get these questions and it'll be like this laundry list of past 0.98

01:06:18.700 shit and I can't relate to them. 0.96

01:06:21.340 Like, I'm looking at them like, so? 1.00

01:06:25.000 Right.

01:06:25.400 They let it paralyze them.

01:06:26.640 Uh, Kelsey's not plugged in.

01:06:28.720 Yeah.

01:06:30.540 Well, anyway, Kelsey just said they let it paralyze them, but it's true. 0.99

01:06:33.860 And I'm thinking like all the bad shit that... 0.99

01:06:35.520 Like, I'm... 1.00

01:06:36.200 Like, while they're replaying the things that like, you know, oh, my fucking dad and I don't 0.99

01:06:40.460 have a good relationship and, uh, you know, this and that. 1.00

01:06:43.840 And I'm like, motherfucker, I got stabbed in the fucking face. 1.00

01:06:46.860 You know what I'm saying? 1.00

01:06:47.940 Like, in the fucking face. 1.00

01:06:49.620 Right. 1.00

01:06:49.780 Like, I look like the fucking mask. 1.00

01:06:51.640 What's that show with Cher and mask? 1.00

01:06:53.860 What's that kid's name?

01:06:54.600 Yeah.

01:06:54.920 I don't know what his name is, but he had like that elephant disease.

01:06:57.220 Yeah.

01:06:57.620 The face. 1.00

01:06:58.220 The fucking mask. 1.00

01:06:59.180 Yeah. 1.00

01:06:59.500 Yeah.

01:06:59.720 Yeah.

01:07:00.040 Yeah. 0.99

01:07:00.500 That's what I fucking looked like for like two years. 0.99

01:07:02.620 Mm-hmm. 0.99

01:07:03.340 You know?

01:07:03.760 Like, dude. 0.99

01:07:05.100 And I was a good looking motherfucker before that. 0.99

01:07:06.960 Yeah. 0.99

01:07:07.560 I saw it.

01:07:08.180 I saw your, uh, your pictures in the yearbook.

01:07:10.360 Dude, I'm just...

01:07:10.880 No, not then.

01:07:11.900 After that.

01:07:12.320 That was an awkward phase, dude.

01:07:14.580 Everybody has an awkward phase.

01:07:16.240 You're still in it.

01:07:17.000 Yeah, I know I am.

01:07:18.760 Dude.

01:07:20.020 So, the point is, is that, you know, like, I just don't live in that way.

01:07:24.440 Like, I don't, I don't know.

01:07:25.700 You're moving a million miles a second.

01:07:26.860 Yeah, dude.

01:07:27.500 The thing that tells me that someone's living in the past...

01:07:30.440 Even Sal and I have talked about that before.

01:07:32.100 He's like, dude, you're like cold.

01:07:34.240 Right.

01:07:34.420 It's not that I'm cold. 1.00

01:07:35.280 I'm just focused on other shit. 1.00

01:07:36.940 Right. 0.99

01:07:37.520 You know?

01:07:37.900 I don't know.

01:07:38.500 Maybe I am cold. 1.00

01:07:39.300 Maybe I'm fucked in the head. 1.00

01:07:40.240 I don't fucking know. 1.00

01:07:40.980 Well, you are that, but that's the, you know, geniuses are often mad. 0.99

01:07:44.760 But, no, I mean, for me... 1.00

01:07:46.220 I just don't care about the shit that most people care about. 0.99

01:07:47.960 Yeah, no, I get you. 1.00

01:07:48.700 But, I also think that that is a product of age.

01:07:51.060 I've come to the point where, for me, the past...

01:07:53.340 I don't think it's an age thing.

01:07:54.660 Well, but, I mean, I'm saying it's a product of maturity.

01:07:56.980 Maybe not age.

01:07:57.460 It's experience, maybe.

01:07:58.320 Experience and maturity.

01:07:59.200 So, for me, I've come to the point in my life where I look at the past to understand

01:08:03.620 myself, not to judge myself.

01:08:05.200 Yeah.

01:08:05.400 That's how I do it.

01:08:05.760 That's a good way to say it.

01:08:06.860 You know?

01:08:07.400 And I think, you know, I mean, I don't know. 0.98

01:08:11.000 Like, I just find myself caring less and less about the shit that people generally care about. 0.98

01:08:15.080 Yeah. 0.97

01:08:15.580 And I'm more and more interested in progress and teaching and learning and experiences

01:08:23.960 than I am worried about, you know...

01:08:27.880 You don't have the time, bro. 0.99

01:08:29.120 I love the fucking Cardinals baseball. 0.99

01:08:30.360 I mean, I love the Cardinals and everything, but, like, I start to get to a point where 1.00

01:08:33.620 I look at people who go to the fucking baseball game every week, like, what the fuck are you 1.00

01:08:38.060 guys doing? 1.00

01:08:39.060 You know what I mean?

01:08:39.700 Or, I don't know. 0.89

01:08:40.660 Maybe I wish I was a little more ignorant sometimes to where I just didn't think that 0.88

01:08:45.200 way and I was oblivious, you know? 0.89

01:08:47.740 But I'm just not.

01:08:48.980 Right.

01:08:49.620 Well, guys, follow at Andy Fursella, at V-A-U-G-H-N-K-O-H-L-E-R, and at M-A-I...

01:08:55.760 Your thing is so hard to say.

01:08:57.800 What is it?

01:08:58.400 At M-A-I underscore Tyler.

01:09:01.520 How about just at Tyler Hagler?

01:09:03.480 Why not that?

01:09:04.340 No.

01:09:04.680 So, anyway.

01:09:05.680 All right.

01:09:06.060 Thanks for listening, guys.

01:09:06.720 That's not cute enough.

01:09:07.660 That's true.

01:09:10.520 Tell me, doctor.

01:09:12.280 Where are we going this time?

01:09:18.140 Is this the 50s?

01:09:20.760 Or 1999?

01:09:26.120 All I wanted to know.

01:09:28.400 Was playing my guitar and sing.

01:09:33.800 So take me away.

01:09:36.340 I don't mind.

01:09:38.500 But you better promise me I'll be back in time.

01:09:45.300 All I do is work, work, work.

01:09:47.340 Never run the sidelines.

01:09:49.000 I only hustle.

01:09:50.520 Never take your day off.

01:09:52.280 I only work, work, work.

01:09:54.180 I love you.

01:09:54.620 Thank you.

REAL AF with Andy Frisella - March 29, 2016

We Talking Business Like It's 1999, with Andy Frisella - MFCEO56

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript

REAL AF with Andy Frisella - March 29, 2016

We Talking Business Like It&#x27;s 1999, with Andy Frisella - MFCEO56

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript

We Talking Business Like It's 1999, with Andy Frisella - MFCEO56