This Past Weekend with Theo Von - E314 Jimmy John Liautaud

00:00:00.000 Today's episode is brought to you by Gray Block Pizza, 1811 Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles on the way to the beach.

00:00:07.720 Gray Block, get that hitter.

00:00:10.440 Today's episode is brought to you by Magic Mind as well.

00:00:16.080 You know, flow state now comes in a bottle.

00:00:20.440 A lot of times procrastination gets you.

00:00:23.740 Well, change that.

00:00:25.160 Coffee's not doing it for you.

00:00:26.860 Change it up.

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00:00:35.700 Today's guest is entrepreneur, business owner, creator, hard worker, and human, Mr. Jimmy John Leotow.

00:00:49.920 Shine that light on me.

00:00:54.420 I'll sit and tell you my stories.

00:01:02.060 Shine on me.

00:01:06.140 And I will find a song I've been singing just for you.

00:01:12.920 You got started, my mother's from outside of Peoria, Illinois, but you got started in Illinois.

00:01:19.920 So take me through a little bit of how Jimmy John's got started.

00:01:25.800 Oh, okay, cool.

00:01:27.060 So I graduated in May or in June of 1982 and it was about March and my dad said to me, he's like, hey man, he said, Jimmy, what are you going to be doing after high school?

00:01:38.720 Because you got to do something.

00:01:39.720 You can't live at home.

00:01:41.400 And he said, you need to start applying to college.

00:01:43.440 You got to start figuring out what you're going to do.

00:01:46.260 And college really wasn't an option.

00:01:49.260 I didn't do what, I graduated second and last in my high school class.

00:01:52.660 Who was last?

00:01:53.540 Do you remember?

00:01:54.060 Yeah, Craig Schumacher.

00:01:55.200 Great guy.

00:01:56.180 He was last?

00:01:56.840 Yeah, Craig Schumacher.

00:01:57.740 The love master?

00:01:58.660 Craig Schumacher.

00:02:00.040 Oh.

00:02:00.440 Yeah, he was a classmate of mine, Craig Schumacher.

00:02:03.480 Not the comedian.

00:02:04.440 No, not the comedian.

00:02:05.540 I'm thinking of Schumacher.

00:02:06.540 No, okay, different guy.

00:02:08.880 Wow.

00:02:09.800 So anyway, long story short is my dad was an entrepreneur and he said, look, you're not going to college.

00:02:16.660 You can't live at home.

00:02:18.620 You know, start a business.

00:02:20.360 You got to do something.

00:02:21.320 So I said, well, I kind of would like to open a Chicago hot dog stand.

00:02:24.600 I love a Chicago Portillo hot dog and a tamale and a French fry.

00:02:29.060 And I said, love to open a hot dog stand.

00:02:31.620 He said, I'll tell you what.

00:02:32.480 He says, I'll lend you $25,000.

00:02:34.360 Dang.

00:02:34.980 And it was a pretty good deal.

00:02:36.180 He says, and here's the deal.

00:02:37.560 He said, you get $25,000.

00:02:39.660 If it makes it, I own 48%.

00:02:41.740 If it fails, you go to the Army for two years and you don't have to pay me back.

00:02:46.380 He really wanted me to go to the Army.

00:02:47.980 He fought the Korean War.

00:02:49.620 My big brother, Greg, drove an armored personnel carrier.

00:02:51.980 My little brother, Robbie, was a ranger out in Fort Ord, California.

00:02:55.500 So you're the odd duck.

00:02:58.080 Total odd duck.

00:02:59.220 Total odd duck.

00:03:00.120 All three of those guys are fighters.

00:03:01.780 And every time I got in a fight, I just got the shit beat out of me.

00:03:04.960 I don't know what to do in a fight.

00:03:06.640 Open up a concession stand.

00:03:08.120 That's what you do, apparently.

00:03:09.020 That's what you do.

00:03:09.740 You open up a sandwich shop.

00:03:12.300 So anyway, I graduate high school.

00:03:15.200 And so I go to visit hot dog stands.

00:03:18.120 And in two weeks, I visited 50.

00:03:20.740 I knew what I had to have on the menu.

00:03:23.960 I knew what equipment I needed to have.

00:03:25.880 And I made a list.

00:03:26.700 I made a menu list and my equipment list.

00:03:29.260 And it was easy.

00:03:30.200 I went to the library and got yellow pages.

00:03:32.020 We didn't have technology.

00:03:33.060 We didn't have Google.

00:03:34.140 And they had the yellow pages in the library.

00:03:35.760 And I Googled restaurant equipment and then used restaurant equipment.

00:03:38.880 And I found places in Chicago that had it.

00:03:41.560 And I drove my car down to the city.

00:03:43.600 And I found a section, which is now the West Loop, which is the hottest area in Chicago.

00:03:48.480 But storefront after storefront of entrepreneur-owned little used restaurant equipment houses, right?

00:03:54.060 So I had the list of equipment for my hot dog stand.

00:03:57.380 And the cheapest price I got was $43,000.

00:04:00.240 So I drive back home to Cary, Illinois.

00:04:02.540 And I say, Pop.

00:04:03.700 He says, yeah, what's up?

00:04:04.940 I said, I need more dough.

00:04:06.180 He said, what are you talking about?

00:04:07.020 I said, I need $43,000 just for the equipment.

00:04:09.100 I got a fryer, a steam table, a hood.

00:04:11.280 I got a grill.

00:04:12.100 I got a flat top.

00:04:12.940 I got a milkshake machine.

00:04:13.920 He said, hey, dude, it's $25,000.

00:04:16.760 Damn.

00:04:17.060 And I'm like, oh.

00:04:17.680 And the bus stops here, huh?

00:04:19.100 I'm like, dude, you're serious.

00:04:21.520 He said, I'm serious as shit, son.

00:04:24.040 He said, so this is like mid-June.

00:04:27.000 And so just, it was random, but I was going to go visit a buddy at Southern Illinois University that next weekend.

00:04:33.500 The Salukis, right, is it?

00:04:34.540 Yeah, it is the Salukis.

00:04:35.560 It is the Salukis.

00:04:36.640 So I drive down there, and I'm partying with my buddy.

00:04:39.120 He says, let's go get a sandwich at Boobie Sandwiches.

00:04:41.760 I'm like, what's this little sandwich shop?

00:04:43.100 It's great.

00:04:43.940 So I go to this little sandwich shop.

00:04:45.400 Theo, literally, it's got a refrigerator, a Coca-Cola refrigerator.

00:04:49.280 There's vegetables in it, there's meats in it, and there's beer in it, and there's soda in it.

00:04:54.120 It's like Coca-Cola gave it to him, but he was using it.

00:04:56.420 All in the same fridge.

00:04:57.240 All in the same fridge.

00:04:58.220 He had a little make table, half the size of your desk, a little refrigerated make table, a meat slicer.

00:05:02.920 And he was making, and it had bags of bread and a cash register.

00:05:05.600 The guy's making sandwiches.

00:05:06.700 So I just came from fryers and steam tables, milkshake machines, and all this shit, all this equipment.

00:05:12.320 And here I'm like, there's a refrigerator.

00:05:13.660 I said, I can do sandwiches.

00:05:15.500 Wow.

00:05:15.860 So just like that.

00:05:17.000 So before that, it was hot dogs.

00:05:19.620 And that moment just changed it for you?

00:05:21.860 That moment changed my head.

00:05:23.200 I just came from 18, 20 pieces of equipment for $45,000.

00:05:26.920 Right.

00:05:27.300 I knew I could get a used refrigerator for $400.

00:05:29.720 I knew I could get a used make line for $500.

00:05:32.460 I knew I could get a refrigerator for $250, or a cash register for $250.

00:05:36.100 And I knew I could get a used meat slicer for $600, $700.

00:05:40.840 I just bent through every restaurant warehouse in Chicago.

00:05:43.880 Oh, and I bet.

00:05:44.560 Yeah.

00:05:44.700 Especially in that area, you're going to have probably the best opportunity because of so

00:05:48.200 many restaurants in Chicago of even getting into that kind of stuff.

00:05:51.060 Here's a video question that came in right here.

00:05:52.560 We'll go to one early that came in for you, John, right here, actually.

00:05:55.140 Yeah, go ahead.

00:05:55.700 So this is a question for both of you, Theo, Jimmy John.

00:05:59.920 You guys are two very successful business owners.

00:06:03.160 And I just want to know, what is it that motivates you the most, that gave you that

00:06:08.500 drive, that gave you that edge?

00:06:10.280 You know, I'm looking forward to your answers.

00:06:12.400 Either way, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays to both of you.

00:06:15.060 Gang, gang, Jimmy John.

00:06:17.300 Thanks, baby.

00:06:17.940 Gang, gang.

00:06:18.540 And I'll tell you this, and I'll kind of add into what I was going to ask.

00:06:21.460 And thank you for that, young man.

00:06:22.600 And yeah, because I was going to ask you, so to go from, to switch from hot dogs to

00:06:27.600 sandwiches, so it wasn't really about the, was it still about the product as much?

00:06:31.940 Or was it about, because some people are like, I'm selling hammers, that's it.

00:06:35.240 And if you show them a screwdriver, they're not going to change to that.

00:06:37.580 So was it about business?

00:06:39.060 Like, did you realize at that point, like, oh, I just want to do business?

00:06:42.100 Or is it just food business?

00:06:44.520 Like, because that's kind of a pivot.

00:06:45.820 I mean, that's a, you know.

00:06:46.920 Yeah, that was a real pivot.

00:06:48.100 But it was a critical pivot, but my homework was done.

00:06:50.920 And when your homework is done, the answers were obvious.

00:06:53.980 I knew how much I could buy used equipment for.

00:06:56.880 I knew how complicated the hot dog stand was.

00:07:00.140 I knew how many items were going to be on the menu.

00:07:02.620 And when I saw refrigerator, meat slicer, cash register, boom, three pieces of equipment.

00:07:07.600 Man, I knew instantly that I could do that.

00:07:10.440 Especially with that third one is the cash register.

00:07:13.260 You're like, okay, this all makes sense.

00:07:16.540 Absolutely.

00:07:17.000 Because that other list probably didn't have a register on it.

00:07:19.040 And that's the one you need the most.

00:07:21.120 So that's interesting.

00:07:22.100 So then, yes, suddenly you're like, oh, this is a pared down kind of, did it feel like, okay, this is a more pared down version of what I want to do?

00:07:28.320 Or this is?

00:07:28.940 No, it was another option.

00:07:30.300 And so what I did is I just pivoted and I went and looked at other sandwich shops that were, and even at that time, Subway wasn't baking in their own stores.

00:07:37.500 They were getting bread delivered one or two or three days a week.

00:07:39.960 So they weren't baking.

00:07:41.600 So I went and I, instead of just looking at hot dog stands around Chicago, I went to Milwaukee, went to Madison.

00:07:47.160 I started looking at other sandwich shops.

00:07:48.980 And I found a sandwich shop in Milwaukee that baked their own buns.

00:07:52.520 And they baked their own bun.

00:07:55.620 And you bought your sandwich on this homemade bun.

00:07:58.740 And you got a soda pop in a 16-ounce returnable bottle.

00:08:01.700 When you gave them the bottle back, they gave you your dime deposit back.

00:08:04.520 That was before your time.

00:08:05.940 Right.

00:08:06.160 But the best thing about it was the bread.

00:08:08.620 And so after visiting enough sandwich shops, I'm like, damn, I got to figure out how to bake bread.

00:08:13.280 So I went right back to the library.

00:08:15.040 It's now July.

00:08:15.940 I'm right back to the library.

00:08:17.200 And I got books on baking bread.

00:08:18.540 I baked bread in my mama's kitchen and figured out how to bake bread.

00:08:21.720 And then I figured that out.

00:08:23.420 So that was the next step.

00:08:24.920 Okay.

00:08:25.440 So you get to your bread.

00:08:27.120 Yeah.

00:08:27.280 And what are your parents doing during this?

00:08:28.940 Are they kind of impressed?

00:08:30.080 I mean, they must be impressed with your desire, huh?

00:08:33.240 You know, my parents were, I don't know that we were raised.

00:08:36.460 I think we were basically fed.

00:08:39.140 You know, my dad was working.

00:08:40.760 My mom did.

00:08:41.520 I mean, we got four kids and we're all 13 months apart.

00:08:44.320 And there's four of us, three boys and a girl.

00:08:46.380 So we weren't really, it wasn't really, you know, we didn't have any sort of traditional raising.

00:08:52.560 There's a lot of love in the house.

00:08:54.140 We just didn't have, there wasn't a lot of time to nurture.

00:08:57.380 So I was really on my own.

00:08:58.860 The feedback was, you know, what's this guy doing?

00:09:00.980 Don't, you know, I think they were probably shaking their heads.

00:09:03.260 And my dad was just hoping that I would just hang it up and go to the army.

00:09:06.820 I think that's really what he was hoping was going to happen.

00:09:09.340 I mean, like when I think about it right now, I think that's what he was thinking about, man.

00:09:13.660 But were you like, so I got, let me get a little bit more of what you were like then.

00:09:16.720 Were you like, cause you weren't a, you weren't a dumb, you did not well in your grades and stuff,

00:09:22.380 but you weren't a dumb kid.

00:09:23.880 No, I wasn't a dumb kid, but I couldn't read and comprehend.

00:09:28.120 So I think it's called dyslexia.

00:09:29.460 You've heard of it before.

00:09:30.840 One of my best friends has it.

00:09:31.920 Good.

00:09:32.000 So I just can't read and comprehend.

00:09:34.260 So, so even now married to Leslie, like if, if, if something comes in and it's a letter,

00:09:38.620 somebody wrote it to us, even a Chris, Leslie reads it to me.

00:09:41.140 I closed my eyes and I listened to it and I can take it all in, but I just cannot read

00:09:44.920 and comprehend.

00:09:45.700 So I was sharp enough to do stuff.

00:09:48.080 I could, I was good at math, but I just, yeah, I just, I couldn't read, man.

00:09:51.500 And, and, and I think it pissed the teachers off too.

00:09:53.720 And I think, I think they got angry because I thought they, they probably thought that

00:09:57.440 I, I should be able to comprehend.

00:09:59.580 And because I wasn't, I must've been, you know.

00:10:02.960 Oh yeah.

00:10:03.240 Screwing around.

00:10:03.740 Yeah.

00:10:03.900 Screwing around.

00:10:04.480 And I wasn't, I just couldn't comprehend.

00:10:06.420 You know, it's like dance son.

00:10:07.800 Well, I can't dance.

00:10:08.620 Well, then you're a shithead.

00:10:09.760 No, I'm not.

00:10:10.200 I just can't dance.

00:10:11.160 Yeah.

00:10:11.780 Yeah.

00:10:12.100 And then they think if you're not dancing, you're just loitering or something else.

00:10:14.860 You're just doing something.

00:10:16.040 Yeah.

00:10:16.440 You're kind of ruining the vibe then.

00:10:17.960 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:10:18.620 So I was, but then when, what happened then, I think teachers got a little angry.

00:10:22.700 They would rib me a little bit and be angry and be pissed at me.

00:10:25.460 And I was sharp enough to be, to, to stick it right back to them.

00:10:28.340 And I think that's probably what pissed the teachers off and made them angry because,

00:10:32.640 because I, I, I could see what they were doing and I, I didn't know why they were angry

00:10:36.400 at me because there was no, but when they were ribbing me, I would give it right back

00:10:39.680 to them.

00:10:39.920 I, I was, you know, that's just what I did.

00:10:42.200 Were you funny in school?

00:10:43.000 Were you like a funny guy?

00:10:43.780 Yeah.

00:10:44.220 I was, I was funny.

00:10:45.380 I'm, I'm, I'm, yeah.

00:10:46.800 Yeah.

00:10:46.940 I had a good time.

00:10:47.620 That's cool.

00:10:47.960 For sure.

00:10:48.440 For sure.

00:10:48.800 Were you goofy funny or were you taught like word funny, like saying stuff that was funny

00:10:53.400 or would you like, were you like truffle shuffle funny kind of guy or like just say stuff?

00:10:58.840 No, I don't know.

00:11:00.740 I think I was, I don't know what any of those things mean really.

00:11:04.520 I don't know what truffle shuffle is.

00:11:05.940 Were you like a goof or were you like a, you would get up and do something physical or

00:11:09.620 were you just, you would, the way you could.

00:11:11.340 More verbal.

00:11:11.840 Yeah, me too.

00:11:12.420 Verbally funny.

00:11:12.820 Like I could respond to shit quick.

00:11:14.300 I could say it quick.

00:11:15.660 Yeah.

00:11:16.020 I mean, I just hit, you know, I could, I could, I could have.

00:11:17.940 I could have a good time with stuff.

00:11:18.740 And school's a fun environment, dude.

00:11:20.040 Cause you basically have kind of an audience every day.

00:11:22.380 If the, if the curriculum doesn't really engage you that much.

00:11:25.820 Yeah.

00:11:26.100 Um, which sometimes dyslexia to me is just that it's kind of like the, like the world

00:11:32.080 of curriculum.

00:11:32.800 Just, it's not as engaging for some people.

00:11:35.460 And so your brain just doesn't leech onto it.

00:11:38.820 So it's almost like dyslexia.

00:11:40.620 Sometimes it can be like a blessing.

00:11:41.680 It's like, Oh, what am I missing?

00:11:43.000 Learning all this shit that I don't really care about, you know?

00:11:45.880 Yeah.

00:11:46.360 Um, so anyway, so, so we're at the bread.

00:11:48.620 So you got the bread recipe, which being from Louisiana, man, I respect that more than anything,

00:11:52.560 dude.

00:11:52.820 Like a po' boy sandwich.

00:11:54.220 People are always like, what makes a, I'm like, you have to have good bread.

00:11:57.360 Like, I don't care.

00:11:58.420 Other cities.

00:11:59.140 You have one in Salt Lake city.

00:12:00.380 This is dog shit.

00:12:01.240 I want, you have to have good bread.

00:12:03.180 You gotta have good bread.

00:12:04.360 New Orleans has great bread.

00:12:05.800 Great po' boys down there.

00:12:07.140 So gotta have the great bread.

00:12:08.660 So I figured that out.

00:12:09.780 Yeah.

00:12:09.880 So you got the great bread.

00:12:10.980 Got the great bread.

00:12:11.460 Now, was there a day where you knew it?

00:12:12.980 Cause like, I'm, I'm, I've read Michael Lindell's book.

00:12:15.280 You've read his book.

00:12:16.220 No.

00:12:16.620 Um, he wrote the, he's the, my pillow guy.

00:12:18.300 Right.

00:12:18.960 And he has a moment where he finally gets the fluffing right in the pillow and he just

00:12:23.420 can't, I mean, he loses.

00:12:24.520 He's just, it's a great moment.

00:12:25.940 Right.

00:12:26.340 Did you have that moment where you're like, this is the bread.

00:12:28.860 I had a moment and I got a great story about the moment.

00:12:30.960 So I got the moment.

00:12:31.860 I got the bread.

00:12:32.680 I'm baking the bread.

00:12:33.460 The bread's good.

00:12:34.280 I'm going back and forth to the grocery store.

00:12:36.740 And I lived in Carrie and Dominic's grocery stores in Crystal Lake.

00:12:39.660 And I'm going back and forth, buying meats and coming home and making sandwiches on the

00:12:43.440 bread.

00:12:44.320 And I, I'm walking past the freezer section one day and I see this frozen bread dough in

00:12:48.680 the freezer section had like four, like one pound loaves of bread, this big in a freezer

00:12:53.280 bag.

00:12:53.580 It was Rich's frozen bread dough.

00:12:55.640 And I grabbed a bag and I threw it in the cart.

00:12:58.300 So remember I had, now I had my, I had all my meats and then I had this frozen dough.

00:13:01.860 I take the dough home to the house.

00:13:03.500 I thought one of these loaves out and I cut it in quarters and stretch it out and bake it

00:13:08.200 off into a loaf and I baked the bread.

00:13:10.140 It was way better than the bread that I came up with.

00:13:12.880 And I looked at the bread bag.

00:13:14.060 It said Rich's frozen products.

00:13:15.720 I think it was Poughkeepsie, New York.

00:13:17.440 And at the time the entire New York area code was 212.

00:13:20.660 So I dialed 212-555-1212.

00:13:24.440 And I said, can I have the number of Rich's frozen products, Poughkeepsie, New York?

00:13:27.820 And directory says and says, sure.

00:13:29.720 One moment, please.

00:13:30.540 And gives me the number.

00:13:31.960 So I call Rich's frozen products and I said, hello, may I speak to Mr. Rich?

00:13:35.780 The lady says, one moment, please.

00:13:38.160 No way.

00:13:38.800 I swear to God.

00:13:40.000 The guy gets on the phone and says, hello, this is Bob Rich.

00:13:43.500 I said, hello, Mr. Rich?

00:13:44.840 He says, yes, ma'am.

00:13:46.300 My voice said, it was, you know, it's pretty squeaky now, but it was squeakier then.

00:13:51.800 Yes, ma'am, what can I do for you?

00:13:53.420 I just went with it.

00:13:54.680 I said, listen, I said, I'm opening a sandwich shop in Illinois and I said, and I just tried

00:13:59.340 your bread dough and it was way better than the bread dough I made.

00:14:02.100 Can you supply me my bread dough?

00:14:03.940 He says, you're opening a sandwich shop in Illinois?

00:14:06.520 He says, give me your phone number.

00:14:07.820 Let me call you back.

00:14:09.160 So I hang up the phone and he calls me back in five minutes.

00:14:12.640 He says, you know where Schaumburg, Illinois is?

00:14:14.400 I said, yeah, I live in Cary, Illinois.

00:14:16.140 He said, well, my friend Lou Ganella is building an addition on his frozen dough factory right

00:14:22.480 by you and you go see him.

00:14:24.820 Can you be there tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock?

00:14:26.960 And he'll go set.

00:14:27.900 You go see him at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning.

00:14:30.120 I said, really?

00:14:30.740 He said, absolutely.

00:14:31.680 Here's the address.

00:14:32.640 Here's the phone number.

00:14:33.400 You go tomorrow morning.

00:14:34.520 You go see my friend Lou Ganella.

00:14:36.060 And how old are you?

00:14:36.920 I'm 18 years old.

00:14:38.100 Damn.

00:14:38.480 18 years old.

00:14:39.560 Dude.

00:14:40.360 So I had a Chevy Citation, man, the hatchback.

00:14:43.760 The car was called a Citation?

00:14:45.220 It was a Chevy Citation, man.

00:14:46.840 It was awesome.

00:14:47.540 Front wheel drive.

00:14:47.860 That's a ticket.

00:14:48.540 That's a parking ticket.

00:14:49.220 I could spin it backwards.

00:14:51.840 You know, I could do 360 donuts.

00:14:53.820 It was killer.

00:14:54.800 So I go to this factory.

00:14:57.820 It's a construction site.

00:14:58.920 I walk in the front door and there's a woman there, a receptionist.

00:15:02.740 And there's two yellow hats there.

00:15:04.860 And one says Jimmy John on it, construction hats.

00:15:07.100 And one says Lou.

00:15:08.940 So I go in there and I go in there.

00:15:12.920 Excuse me, Ron.

00:15:13.700 His name was Ron.

00:15:15.000 And he was Lou's nephew or something like that.

00:15:17.260 But Lou owned it.

00:15:18.040 His name was Ron Lucchese.

00:15:19.540 It was Ron and Jimmy.

00:15:20.700 So one minute, Ron comes out.

00:15:23.220 He says, son, put that hat on.

00:15:24.440 Come on with me.

00:15:25.280 I go into this kitchen and here they got like 20 different breads all lined out fresh out of the oven.

00:15:32.620 He says, come on, let's play with some bread.

00:15:34.160 Let's eat some bread and see what you like.

00:15:36.180 And we'll make some bread dough.

00:15:37.400 And they had mixers over here.

00:15:39.120 In about six hours between he and I, and I said, I like this one pretty good.

00:15:44.100 He's like, well, then we'll make that bread dough for you.

00:15:46.920 I'm sure there's no way in a million years did he ever, ever think that it would be what it was.

00:15:52.020 Sure enough, I call him three months later.

00:15:53.700 I said, I got my location.

00:15:54.780 I'm going to do it at Eastern Illinois University.

00:15:56.980 And son of a gun, if I didn't end up loyal to that family and that company, and we are now their largest customer.

00:16:03.880 And I think there's over a hundred Ganella family members that are owners of this company.

00:16:08.620 And I think we are their largest customer now.

00:16:11.660 So it was an incredible experience.

00:16:15.100 And it was so random that I called that phone number.

00:16:18.660 And the dude was, there was a Bob Rich and he picked up the phone.

00:16:22.020 I mean, what if he was at lunch?

00:16:23.220 Yeah.

00:16:23.500 Yeah.

00:16:23.980 And what, and just the, I mean, that just makes me think about like, when you do something hands on for somebody, a lot of things in life, it takes somebody doing something hands on for you to really believe that you can do it.

00:16:38.380 For sure.

00:16:38.760 And so I can't even imagine you walking in at that age, at that moment, where you're already kind of a little bit excited.

00:16:43.360 You're like, here's adults.

00:16:44.140 They're talking to me.

00:16:44.940 They know about bread.

00:16:45.740 What's even going on?

00:16:46.520 I drive over the hats there with your name on it.

00:16:49.240 Like they went that extra step.

00:16:50.860 And I wonder if they, if they couldn't be thinking this guy's a big sandwich entrepreneur.

00:16:54.920 Dude, I was 18 years old.

00:16:56.220 I didn't even have hair under my arms yet, man.

00:16:58.220 I was late bloomer.

00:16:59.380 He called me ma'am.

00:17:00.720 I mean, no clue.

00:17:02.460 I'm sure.

00:17:02.800 You didn't know if you're going to get hair under your arms if they're calling you ma'am, you know?

00:17:05.640 That's right.

00:17:06.000 That's right.

00:17:06.480 The jury's out.

00:17:07.180 That's right.

00:17:07.820 And, and, you know, and my dad is, my, my dad was thinking the same thing, but when I had this bread dough and then I started making sandwiches on that bread dough, man, I knew.

00:17:15.200 And I had, I came up with six.

00:17:16.620 It's now August.

00:17:17.340 Came up with six sandwiches, invited my family over.

00:17:19.520 They voted on four.

00:17:20.580 And that was August.

00:17:21.700 And anyway.

00:17:22.400 It's so kind though.

00:17:23.300 Just the kindness that I feel like they showed by just saying, okay, here's just somebody who's young and curious and I'm going to extend some time to them, you know?

00:17:32.800 Absolutely.

00:17:33.340 I got to tell you a magical moment.

00:17:35.240 I met a grandson of Mr. Rich who has now passed away.

00:17:39.740 And I, I have a, I spend the majority of the year in Key Largo, Florida.

00:17:43.440 And I was in Key Largo, Florida.

00:17:44.880 And I met a grandson of the, of Mr. Rich.

00:17:47.460 And I told him the story of his grandfather, the family also has a home down in that area.

00:17:51.660 And he was blown away.

00:17:53.160 He was blown away.

00:17:53.960 It was so, it brought me so, it warmed my heart to share how that man literally without that phone call in that moment, I wouldn't have pivoted there.

00:18:02.220 That, which would become the foundation of the Jimmy John's brand for, you know, 36 years before I sold it.

00:18:07.660 So it was an, it was an amazing moment.

00:18:09.920 And I got lucky.

00:18:11.040 I got lucky.

00:18:12.000 But it was in, it was in the bullseye and I, I hit it.

00:18:14.700 And, and so you got the bread now.

00:18:17.800 I really, it's really interesting to hear starting, especially like a sandwich shop, starting any business in a college town.

00:18:26.460 I feel like it's such a strong move because if you can get a market that's excited, that's young, and it's something that's hip, then you know already other towns it's going to work in that exact type of place, you know?

00:18:40.680 Yeah, that's exactly right.

00:18:42.100 Yeah.

00:18:42.220 When you look back at that moment in your life, kind of at that young moment.

00:18:46.260 So some of the cards were kind of laid out for you.

00:18:48.300 It was like, you weren't really, college probably wasn't going to be your thing.

00:18:51.880 Right.

00:18:52.300 Your dad kind of gave you this amount that didn't really work out with, you know, with the, with the list that you made.

00:18:57.460 Cross his fingers, I go to the army.

00:18:59.240 Yeah.

00:18:59.600 Yeah.

00:18:59.940 Yeah.

00:19:00.140 He's looking for you.

00:19:00.840 He's like, geez, put the oven down and pick up a fucking gun, you know?

00:19:03.760 Um, but what was, uh, when you look back at that moment in your life, what are you, was it just some natural gifts that got, do you just think it was just some innate things?

00:19:11.820 Like, what are some things that, you know, I really didn't think about it.

00:19:14.120 I really believe my dad.

00:19:15.520 I mean, my dad was a badass.

00:19:16.940 He was a tough, tough, tough man.

00:19:19.220 He was, he was tough.

00:19:20.780 And I knew that I was out of there and I knew I had to figure it out.

00:19:23.960 So I really didn't spend much time about anything except I wanted to get a location.

00:19:28.640 I want to go to Eastern Illinois, Illinois University.

00:19:31.080 The reason I chose Eastern, my brother was coming out of the army in November.

00:19:34.400 He was going.

00:19:35.420 And I had two cousins that were there, Mike and Steve.

00:19:37.680 Right.

00:19:37.820 So I said, I'll go to Eastern.

00:19:38.940 I'm going to have family there.

00:19:40.140 I'll open up the sandwich shop.

00:19:41.440 I'll prove to the, to the school that I'm worth a shit and I'll get the sandwich shop going.

00:19:45.740 And then I'll, then I'll go to college and get a degree and sell it and go get a real job.

00:19:49.780 Wow.

00:19:50.260 Interesting.

00:19:50.460 So that was my plan.

00:19:51.880 And did you have a lady in your life at this time?

00:19:53.840 What was your, what was the love life like at this point?

00:19:56.440 I didn't know what love was.

00:19:58.320 Really?

00:19:58.900 No, I didn't, I didn't have a lady in my life at all.

00:20:01.360 No, not at all.

00:20:02.460 So not much, not much lady luck in the high school time.

00:20:05.300 No, not at all.

00:20:06.220 Okay.

00:20:06.520 So you get over to Eastern Illinois, you got the first sandwich shop, beautiful locale.

00:20:11.060 Is it still there today?

00:20:12.460 It's a, it's right across the street.

00:20:14.000 It's a tattoo shop.

00:20:15.020 Now the original, I need them.

00:20:16.380 It was only 630 square feet.

00:20:18.020 It was a, it was a two car garage.

00:20:19.980 The, it was a, it was a house that was converted into a Dixie cream donut shop, had a two car garage

00:20:25.400 attached to it.

00:20:26.080 That was a failed pizza joint.

00:20:27.620 I rented that garage for 200 bucks a month.

00:20:30.300 And there was a bar behind me.

00:20:32.020 There was a bar to the left of me and a bar in front of me.

00:20:34.340 So I put my sandwich shop right in that, in that garage.

00:20:37.180 So when the bars closed, they came to Jimmy John's.

00:20:39.540 So I chose that site.

00:20:40.580 The rent was 200 bucks a month.

00:20:42.300 And I, anyway, August, when I went, when I was going to do it, you know, you said like,

00:20:47.000 what was your family saying?

00:20:48.260 I got the bread.

00:20:49.120 I figured it out.

00:20:49.860 I had my sandwiches.

00:20:50.740 I drive down to Eastern Illinois and I came back with two leases, the garage.

00:20:54.220 And I rent an apartment and I said, pops, I got to fund the account.

00:20:57.280 I'm doing this.

00:20:58.440 And I, it's, I, I still really didn't have much feedback from him at all.

00:21:01.500 And then, and then he funded the account and he gave me a checkbook and said, you pay

00:21:05.520 for everything COD.

00:21:06.840 So you live in reality.

00:21:08.040 You start with 25 grand.

00:21:09.900 So I did.

00:21:10.820 So I bought, I bought my equipment.

00:21:12.280 I bought a used refrigerator.

00:21:13.220 I bought a used meat slicer.

00:21:14.660 I bought a Sears chest freezer to hold my bread dough.

00:21:17.220 My mom gave me her oven mitts, her Rubbermaid cake spatula.

00:21:20.660 And she gave me her Tupperware to keep my tomatoes and lettuce in.

00:21:24.680 And yeah, man.

00:21:25.860 And I opened up in this little tiny two car garage at Eastern Illinois.

00:21:28.560 At 19 years old?

00:21:29.700 I opened up my 19th birthday, January, a day after I turned 19, January 13, 1983.

00:21:35.940 I opened up my first store.

00:21:37.440 So you knew, so, so the 25,000 does come into play.

00:21:40.380 So that money at this point, he's funding the account.

00:21:43.240 So you have some money to help you go.

00:21:44.960 Absolutely.

00:21:45.500 Yeah.

00:21:45.620 I had to remodel it.

00:21:46.560 I had to build a counter.

00:21:47.560 I had to put paneling up.

00:21:48.780 I had to, I had to plumb my sink and get my bathroom done.

00:21:51.760 So I did.

00:21:52.260 And then I did, I spent $23,871.

00:21:55.700 I needed a thousand bucks for inventory.

00:21:57.500 And I remember the numbers.

00:21:59.380 And so anyway, yeah, I opened up January, 1383 and I had a $1,300 balance to start with

00:22:05.360 and started out, man.

00:22:07.000 That was it.

00:22:07.740 Damn, dude.

00:22:08.380 And how many Gary Varner Chuck videos did you watch to help start all this?

00:22:12.220 None, I bet.

00:22:12.760 I don't even know who that is.

00:22:14.060 It's this guy, Gary Vee.

00:22:14.980 It's like they sell this entrepreneurial spirit to a lot of people online a lot of times.

00:22:18.600 Okay.

00:22:18.900 It's not bad or anything.

00:22:19.740 It's just like, it's kind of the same thing.

00:22:21.560 It's just like, get entrepreneur, you know, they're like, get entrepreneurial, you know?

00:22:25.400 Oh, shit.

00:22:26.160 I wish, I wish it was like, you know, one of the kids asked, he said, you know, what is

00:22:30.180 it?

00:22:30.560 What is it that drives an entrepreneur?

00:22:32.120 What is it?

00:22:32.480 I think it's fear.

00:22:33.700 I think it's fear of failure.

00:22:35.060 I think this was all driven by fear.

00:22:37.760 You know, that's really what drove it all.

00:22:39.800 That's what, you know, fear of the army, fear of the army, fear of moving out.

00:22:44.220 I had to keep the ball rolling.

00:22:45.640 I had to get funded.

00:22:46.900 I think it, I think really the fear of failure is what really motivates is the original motivator.

00:22:52.520 You know, I just, I just didn't want to fail.

00:22:54.100 Right.

00:22:54.460 Right.

00:22:54.640 And that guy failed my whole life.

00:22:56.260 So I think that's what, that was a real motivator because what the hell else was I going to

00:22:59.460 do?

00:22:59.640 And I didn't want to go to the army.

00:23:01.000 I mean, there's no way I was going to, I was going to get the shit beat out of me in

00:23:03.760 the army.

00:23:04.460 Yeah.

00:23:04.740 I mean, it probably would have been, yeah, it probably wouldn't have been stoked, especially

00:23:07.740 if you don't want to go.

00:23:08.980 Well, yeah.

00:23:09.620 That's you don't want to be in the army.

00:23:10.580 You don't want to be the guy in the army who doesn't want to be in the army.

00:23:13.040 Right.

00:23:13.440 I think that's kind of the bad, the tough five, you know, you need stress relief that goes beyond

00:23:18.500 some quick fixes.

00:23:19.620 And a quick fix is something that just fixes you, but it's, is it good?

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00:25:52.500 Here's a question right here from some young gentleman right here that we got.

00:25:55.640 What's up, Theo?

00:25:56.280 What's up, Jimmy John?

00:25:57.240 This is Mark coming at you from New Jersey.

00:25:59.560 As you can see, my face kind of busted up right now.

00:26:02.860 Got some of that Caucasian abrasion from slipping on some black ice earlier.

00:26:07.060 My question is for Mr. Jimmy.

00:26:08.760 What's it like running a company with your name on it?

00:26:11.040 Does it put extra pressure on you, and does it ever make it difficult for you to separate

00:26:15.020 your personal life from your business?

00:26:17.260 Gang, gang.

00:26:18.100 That's a good question, man.

00:26:19.880 That's a really good question.

00:26:21.640 Jimmy John is a character, right?

00:26:23.820 I'm really Jimmy Leito, and I know Papa John really, really well.

00:26:28.620 Papa John loves being Papa John.

00:26:31.180 He really does.

00:26:32.280 That's his sweet spot, and he just really loves it.

00:26:34.740 But I'm done with Jimmy John's.

00:26:36.280 I sold it.

00:26:37.160 I'm Jimmy Leito.

00:26:38.000 It was a 36-year career.

00:26:41.020 It was extraordinary.

00:26:42.600 I don't know if you've ever been divorced before.

00:26:44.280 I have.

00:26:45.260 You know, my new wife is the love of my life.

00:26:47.900 My ex-wife, God bless her.

00:26:49.300 She's remarried, and she's doing terrific.

00:26:51.700 But I really like my life.

00:26:55.000 Right.

00:26:55.480 I'm really Jimmy.

00:26:56.820 For me, it was a character.

00:26:58.120 It's easy for me to separate, but I think it's different for different people.

00:27:01.420 So that was a really, really good question.

00:27:04.200 For me, it's not hard.

00:27:05.500 But so some guys like being the character, yeah.

00:27:08.400 When did the character start to become, like, yeah, when do you start to become the character?

00:27:14.560 Like, when does that happen throughout this journey?

00:27:16.580 You know what?

00:27:17.060 It started to happen, I think, that, you know, wow, you're Jimmy John.

00:27:21.180 Wow, you're Jimmy John.

00:27:22.420 Like, since it wasn't top of mind for me, you know, I was like this dude working my ass off all the time.

00:27:27.580 You know, yeah, and then I would forget that I'm Jimmy John because I'm working my ass off all the time.

00:27:32.400 I'm like, oh, yeah, yeah, that's right, I'm totally Jimmy John.

00:27:35.240 Yeah.

00:27:35.640 How is it?

00:27:36.400 Oh, it's awesome.

00:27:37.240 We get up at 5 in the morning, and we work till 3 in the morning, 7 days a week, and we clean puke out of toilets, and we reinstall the urinals on the wall when the dudes tear them off the wall.

00:27:46.900 It's great.

00:27:47.860 You know, it's awesome being me.

00:27:49.780 You know, come on and be me for a while.

00:27:51.760 It's the best.

00:27:52.560 So, I was always taken aback by it because I really, it was never top of mind for me.

00:27:58.380 Right.

00:27:58.580 I never like, you know, I never sort of, you know, we were, I spent 10 years in 10 different cities and opened 10 stores, and that was my first 10 years.

00:28:09.940 Wow.

00:28:10.000 And I didn't know how to do a bank loan or get a bank loan, so I'd save up my money and replace myself at the sandwich shop and then move to another city and open up another store.

00:28:18.900 And then in order to have the experience be like it was when I was there, I learned way back at an early age to cut my manager in on a piece of the action.

00:28:26.540 Right.

00:28:26.700 So, then they have some vested interest.

00:28:28.160 So, then they got a vested interest.

00:28:29.360 So, you know, I just, I never, you know, so like when did I start being Jimmy John?

00:28:34.440 I would say probably 2000.

00:28:36.520 We started growing 2005.

00:28:37.960 We had 200 stores.

00:28:39.760 2010, we had 500 stores.

00:28:41.700 And then when it got to be really big, you know, yeah, I'm Jimmy John, but, you know, it's not that sexy, dude.

00:28:47.240 I mean, we got refrigerators and meat slicers and salamis.

00:28:50.660 I mean, if you're impressed by that, that's fine, but it's nothing but a grind.

00:28:54.740 Right.

00:28:54.980 Like, yeah, at that point, but at that point, probably you start to make your way out of the actual store that you're in.

00:29:02.220 And I'm sure it gets, you get into more of the corporate side of stuff.

00:29:05.220 But I want to, I want to go to where, when you make the, so you guys are, things are going well.

00:29:09.260 Yep.

00:29:09.680 Things are going well.

00:29:10.580 You're right there positioned by the, by the bars.

00:29:12.880 Yeah.

00:29:13.880 And you decide to do a second shop.

00:29:16.480 Yeah.

00:29:17.500 So, does it feel like, like, was that a risky move?

00:29:20.640 Are you just, were you trusting your instincts at that point?

00:29:23.540 Were you trusting the numbers?

00:29:24.700 Like, where did the, where does it come from to take that move?

00:29:30.320 So, here's what happened, Theo.

00:29:31.960 Just simple.

00:29:32.860 So, I opened up in January with two of my buddies and me.

00:29:35.500 So, there's three of us.

00:29:36.840 January, February was great.

00:29:38.440 Then one guy quit.

00:29:39.540 So, you have seven day shifts and seven night shifts, essentially.

00:29:42.640 So, then one dude quit.

00:29:43.720 So, I took seven days.

00:29:44.980 The other dude took seven nights.

00:29:46.360 Jeez, this is like the Bible, I feel like.

00:29:47.940 It's like, then March came and the night dude quit.

00:29:51.040 And they, I get a call at like 4.30 in the afternoon.

00:29:53.060 I'm in the sub shop.

00:29:54.460 And, and the dude says, hey man, listen, I quit.

00:29:57.120 I said, you quit?

00:29:58.080 He said, well, I said, why you quit?

00:29:59.140 He said, because you're an asshole.

00:30:00.300 Wow.

00:30:00.680 And I said, okay, what time are you going to be in?

00:30:03.440 He said, no, no, I'm out of here.

00:30:04.380 And the customers came in and the phone rang.

00:30:06.220 And one thing led to another.

00:30:07.520 It's two in the morning.

00:30:08.700 So, I got up and, and, and, and so I closed the store at two in the morning after, and

00:30:12.260 then, then opened it up again at eight.

00:30:13.900 And I, and this is like April of 83.

00:30:17.200 So, I'm working this thing open to close.

00:30:20.500 Eight in the morning.

00:30:21.040 I didn't even know you could work from eight in the morning until two in the morning.

00:30:23.680 If you have to, if you ask the National Labor Relations Board, they'll tell you, no,

00:30:26.960 no way you got to sue somebody for that, right?

00:30:29.080 Yeah, OSHA would have some issues.

00:30:30.280 That's right.

00:30:31.020 So, but the first week I did it, it was really hard and I was freaking out.

00:30:34.120 But the second week, man, I'm like, whoa, I can do this.

00:30:38.120 And by the third week, Theo, I am starting to know my customers, who they are, what they

00:30:43.660 like.

00:30:44.040 If they're chubbier like me, I'll give them a little extra mayo.

00:30:46.560 If they were skinny like you, I took a little off.

00:30:48.880 I used to use the ends of the meats that weren't so pretty, but they were still salami and ham.

00:30:52.680 I'd sell those after one o'clock in the morning because nobody knew what they're eating anyway.

00:30:56.120 So, I figured out how to utilize the waste.

00:30:57.800 And I really started getting into, into, into running the sandwich shop after I, after I,

00:31:02.660 after everybody quit.

00:31:03.900 I just, I survived.

00:31:04.920 I just made it happen.

00:31:05.900 Then I learned I could work open to close.

00:31:08.120 And then I started to keep, remember my dad said, keep your bank balance every day, pay

00:31:12.080 for everything COD.

00:31:13.120 And I'm watching this bank balance go up and I'm watching it go up every day.

00:31:16.800 And I finished the semester in May and I started the semester with 1300 bucks and I had 18,000

00:31:22.480 bucks in the bank.

00:31:23.300 And I'm like, man, I'm a millionaire.

00:31:24.620 Yeah.

00:31:25.320 And so, I totally started paying attention to this checkbook.

00:31:28.560 And so, the end of the first year, I did 156,000 in sales and made 40 grand profit.

00:31:33.780 I split it with my dad.

00:31:35.120 Okay.

00:31:35.360 48, 52.

00:31:36.520 Right.

00:31:37.040 And then the second year, I did 180,000 and made 55,000.

00:31:40.480 I split it with my dad and I saved all my cash.

00:31:42.980 I got paid 200 bucks a week.

00:31:44.460 That's what my pay was.

00:31:45.420 And I saved all the money, less the tax.

00:31:47.460 So, I bought my dad out in May of 1985 for the 25 grand plus 10% interest.

00:31:52.700 So, I had exactly 30,000 bucks.

00:31:55.020 And I took it out of the bank in cash to go pay him off and, and own it.

00:31:58.800 He's like, dude, compound interest.

00:32:00.620 I'm like, what's compound interest?

00:32:02.060 He's like, dude, you owe me another 1,300 bucks.

00:32:05.180 Give me a break.

00:32:06.420 So, we got the 20 grand the first year, 25 grand year two, the original investment back.

00:32:10.660 Then I owned it myself.

00:32:12.280 Then I worked another year and then I moved.

00:32:14.040 Then I replaced myself.

00:32:15.040 I moved to Macomb, Illinois, Western Illinois University.

00:32:17.500 Opened my second store, 86.

00:32:19.840 I moved to University of Illinois.

00:32:21.100 My third store, 87.

00:32:22.780 I moved to Michigan State, Lansing, Michigan.

00:32:24.740 And so, that's, that's, that's what I did.

00:32:26.340 Okay.

00:32:26.600 So, at that point, then you're on the go.

00:32:28.200 I'm on the go.

00:32:28.920 You're on the go.

00:32:29.400 And go back to the question where the guy calls and says, you're an asshole.

00:32:32.300 Were you an asshole?

00:32:33.340 I'm an asshole.

00:32:33.720 Sometimes I started out as just being like fun and everything was fun.

00:32:37.340 Yeah.

00:32:37.480 And then once you get into business, man, it's the adjustment sometimes is really tough.

00:32:41.820 Yeah.

00:32:42.120 And I have to think with another side of my brain.

00:32:44.120 Right.

00:32:44.400 And I have to be a business person sometimes.

00:32:46.300 Right.

00:32:46.880 And it goes totally against whatever the fun side of things.

00:32:49.920 Yeah.

00:32:50.300 Were you an asshole?

00:32:51.140 What made the guy say that?

00:32:52.420 Here's what I learned.

00:32:53.300 Here was the deal.

00:32:54.000 No, because I'm just not an asshole as an individual.

00:32:56.200 I'm, I love people and I love life, but what I didn't, I didn't know what a boss had to

00:33:00.400 do.

00:33:00.720 I took the easiest shifts for myself.

00:33:02.440 I took the easiest jobs for myself.

00:33:04.200 I sliced the easiest meats myself.

00:33:06.180 I cleaned the easiest toilets myself and gave everybody else all the tough shit to do.

00:33:10.500 And so, and then what I learned is that the boss takes the toughest shifts, the hardest

00:33:14.760 jobs, sets his people up to succeed.

00:33:17.160 When they fail, it's the boss's fault.

00:33:19.020 Typically, it's not the individual's fault because people really want to do a good job.

00:33:22.660 All they need to know is why, and you just, and if you catch them doing it right, and

00:33:26.780 the more often you catch people doing things right and say, man, I really appreciate the

00:33:30.660 time you took to clean that bathroom that way.

00:33:33.440 There was not one hair left anywhere in that bathroom.

00:33:36.000 You took the time to do it.

00:33:37.240 You're a rock star.

00:33:38.080 And if you are as a boss, take the time to thank somebody for that effort, they will say,

00:33:42.960 thank you, sir.

00:33:43.600 And they will do it again.

00:33:44.640 And I had to learn that.

00:33:45.900 My guys quit.

00:33:46.680 I just didn't know how to be a boss.

00:33:48.220 Then I learned how to be a boss, man.

00:33:50.140 And then I read a couple of books on One Minute Manager and Leadership and the One Minute

00:33:54.320 Manager.

00:33:54.980 And I learned that I had to lead by example, that people do what I do, not what I say.

00:34:00.160 And so, again, it was out of fear or survival.

00:34:02.640 I mean, I had to do it and I learned to do it.

00:34:04.180 And then once I realized I could do it, I'm like, man, I can do this.

00:34:07.740 I mean, I'd never been successful at anything in my life and I was killing it.

00:34:11.900 So it was cool, man.

00:34:13.280 Now, were you, like when you have the success, so outside of work, in which I don't know how

00:34:16.660 there's any time, what was your social life like?

00:34:19.420 Like, did you start dating in college?

00:34:20.920 I mean, there's more women in college.

00:34:22.260 Did you get a girlfriend?

00:34:24.020 Did you, you know, like what were you doing kind of for fun during that time?

00:34:27.640 SIU is a freaking fun town, bro.

00:34:29.740 Yeah, Charleston is a fun town.

00:34:31.380 But I was working, you know, at first I was having a lot of fun.

00:34:35.080 And then I was working and then I was really in the restaurant 24-7, 365.

00:34:40.020 You know, that's how we made 40 grand on 150,000 sales.

00:34:43.240 Well, when your labor is 8% and I'm getting paid 82 cents an hour, it's really easy to

00:34:48.180 make that, to have that.

00:34:49.500 So I was really in the store.

00:34:51.220 But yeah, I dated a little bit and I had a couple of girlfriends and I had, you know,

00:34:55.660 a bit of a social life.

00:34:57.000 But nothing, nothing that where I could really, I always, anytime the sandwich shop called,

00:35:02.260 anytime they needed anything, I was there.

00:35:04.460 I was there because I had worked so hard to get it where I got it that I, you know, I had

00:35:08.360 a kind of a social life, but not a, not, not, not, not a college social life, but it was

00:35:12.460 fine.

00:35:13.040 It was, it was great.

00:35:14.100 You know, it was, it was, it was whatever.

00:35:16.240 It was fine.

00:35:16.560 What about like your first kiss?

00:35:17.960 Let's just go.

00:35:18.540 Could we ask everybody this?

00:35:19.840 Oh my God.

00:35:21.020 Do you remember mine?

00:35:21.780 I think, I think, and mine is a question.

00:35:23.680 I'll put mine out there too.

00:35:25.400 It mine, this girl, I lost my virginity behind a bowling alley.

00:35:28.980 Everybody knows that.

00:35:29.920 But my first one was this girl.

00:35:32.820 She had kind of like a chipped tooth a little bit named Chrissy.

00:35:35.080 And she had, her mom used to cut her hair like one of the singers from Leonard Skinner.

00:35:40.760 Like she would literally put a picture up of, I don't even know who it was.

00:35:44.380 Maybe, I don't even know who.

00:35:47.000 And then she would have her sit next to it and cut her hair just like it.

00:35:49.680 So she literally had, she had her hair looking just like one of them.

00:35:54.300 And some people just kind of, we were, we were the same age in the neighborhood.

00:35:57.860 We were both kind of shy and they locked us in a room together one time and, and we had

00:36:03.280 to kiss, you know, and so we did, you know, but.

00:36:06.600 Yeah, my first girlfriend was Peggy.

00:36:08.420 I remember my first girlfriend was Peggy.

00:36:10.880 I forget her last name, but I remember that really, really good.

00:36:13.780 From college?

00:36:14.880 Yeah.

00:36:15.580 Cool chick or no?

00:36:16.840 Yeah, at the time was, you know, it was, it was what it was, you know, for me it was

00:36:19.820 awkward, but it was what it was.

00:36:21.440 Where'd you guys meet at?

00:36:22.220 Do you remember?

00:36:24.160 Yeah, we met at the bars.

00:36:25.540 Oh yeah?

00:36:25.980 Yeah.

00:36:26.240 What were good bars that were, they used to have a comedy club.

00:36:30.560 No, did they have a comedy club there?

00:36:32.080 We had Rocks, we had Mothers, we had Ikes, and we had Chinks, where we'd go there and

00:36:39.820 do these slammer shots where you'd get half whiskey, half seven up, and they'd slam it

00:36:43.460 and you'd go to Chinks and hit one of those.

00:36:46.360 And, oh God, I, what, Marty's, Marty's, we had Marty's.

00:36:50.120 I don't, the comedy club in Charleston, I don't, God, I don't remember a comedy club

00:36:54.300 in Charleston.

00:36:55.260 I mean, I really, socializing wasn't a huge top of mind for me.

00:36:59.320 Right.

00:36:59.580 It's just interesting to be that young and to be that, like, even when I, when I think

00:37:05.220 of College Hour, if I think of just meeting someone now who's 21, 22 years old, and they're

00:37:10.440 that focused on business, it, and maybe it's just because of the times now, that would seem

00:37:15.560 very obtuse.

00:37:18.820 It would seem very unique.

00:37:20.320 Sure.

00:37:20.440 So, was it that unique at the time, or did a lot of young men that were just out of high

00:37:24.680 school and they started small businesses?

00:37:26.640 Dude, I don't think that I was thinking about it the way you were thinking about it, man.

00:37:31.140 I was surviving.

00:37:32.240 Right.

00:37:32.660 Buddy.

00:37:33.040 I was surviving.

00:37:34.260 I was paying my rent.

00:37:35.760 I was getting the money to the bank.

00:37:37.080 I was getting the sandwiches delivered.

00:37:38.540 I was figuring out how to deliver, figuring out how to buy an ad, how to make an advertisement,

00:37:44.720 how to maximize my, my, my dollars and the advertising spend.

00:37:48.040 I'd save up my money.

00:37:48.980 And, you know, I said, well, if I'm going to put an ad in the newspaper, I need to have

00:37:52.620 a headline.

00:37:53.720 And if I have a headline, it'll grab their attention.

00:37:56.600 Totally.

00:37:56.760 And so, I would make up these poems.

00:37:58.300 And so, I would have a headline.

00:37:59.320 Remember, I wrote, when the headline was party.

00:38:01.440 It said, you plan it, you love it, you can't wait till it starts.

00:38:03.820 It's dance and romance and the time to depart.

00:38:05.760 But alas, you just met a cutie that says your beauty, if that is your fate, it's never too

00:38:09.280 late to impress that new love with a Jimmy John's sub.

00:38:11.500 Jimmy John's, we deliver.

00:38:12.600 So, it's a party, all that fill in the middle, and then Jimmy John's, we deliver.

00:38:17.200 And then, and then, and then, I, you know.

00:38:19.000 And you just made these up?

00:38:20.140 Right, yeah.

00:38:20.680 And when I did, I did, I did no zits, no pits, no day old bread, no grease, no fries, great

00:38:26.260 subs instead.

00:38:27.220 And I put these ads in the paper, but I had to think about this shit.

00:38:30.720 Right.

00:38:31.080 And I, and I, and I wanted it to be somewhat adorable or somewhat like it was worth it.

00:38:35.920 If you were going to read it, you could just smile.

00:38:37.620 And they all look the same.

00:38:39.100 So, I had to figure out how, because I had to save up my money and buy an ad.

00:38:41.920 So, I was surviving.

00:38:43.440 I wasn't really sort of like in a scene, man.

00:38:46.180 I was like surviving and figuring out how to survive.

00:38:49.200 Yeah, the ads, it's very charming.

00:38:50.920 It's charming.

00:38:51.760 The ads are very charming.

00:38:52.880 You're, you're a very charming guy.

00:38:53.960 Have you always had that?

00:38:54.700 Have you just, has it always been a gift?

00:38:56.000 I think there's something that's nice, especially when you're in high school, to be able to laugh,

00:39:00.040 but also engage with the teachers.

00:39:01.540 There's, there's a level of, of, of, uh, intelligence that's behind it, but there's a level of charm

00:39:07.780 that makes it more, um, palpable for everyone.

00:39:10.820 A lot of times, um, did you, have you always thought that that's a gift that you had being

00:39:14.820 charming?

00:39:15.200 Dude, I don't, I don't know that I really ever thought I was gifted.

00:39:18.700 I mean, I was a, I was a fat kid and I was, I was raised in a crazy household.

00:39:23.740 We went through two bankruptcies.

00:39:25.600 My dad was, you know, we ran out of milk, dude.

00:39:28.000 We drank powdered milk and I mean, we had love and we made it.

00:39:30.920 And my dad ended up being a successful guy, but my childhood, like I didn't have a foundation.

00:39:35.920 I, I never really thought about, uh, you know, that I was a charming anything.

00:39:39.980 I just, just was, you know, I really never really, it was never in my head.

00:39:45.620 I just was doing what I was doing.

00:39:47.280 So I wasn't thinking about it.

00:39:48.820 Right.

00:39:49.200 You weren't thinking about it, but you had, some of you had survival instincts that were

00:39:51.920 helping you.

00:39:52.460 Hell yes.

00:39:53.120 Was one of, do you think just being a charming guy?

00:39:55.040 Well, dude, I, if it helped me out, you know what I mean?

00:39:57.640 I can talk to people.

00:39:58.540 If it helped me out, I'll take it.

00:39:59.820 Right.

00:40:00.200 I can, I can cook.

00:40:01.280 I can add a subject and I can smile and I can tell it like it is.

00:40:04.840 I don't care.

00:40:05.360 Yeah.

00:40:05.920 Now, what about the, like the, the striving to be good in business?

00:40:10.460 Do you feel like you were trying to like impress your dad?

00:40:12.320 Do you think in the end?

00:40:13.960 Yeah, for sure.

00:40:14.900 I wanted my dad's approval more than anything in the world.

00:40:17.460 Are you kidding me when I think about that, man?

00:40:20.140 Oh, are you kidding me to have, have your dad approve of you?

00:40:23.240 Oh man.

00:40:23.520 You know, there's nothing like it.

00:40:24.720 And, uh, you know, my dad was hard.

00:40:26.840 He, he was a really tough, tough, tough, tough guy.

00:40:29.380 Why is that, man?

00:40:30.200 Well, I mean, yeah, even me just thinking about it, man, it kind of makes me a little bit emotional,

00:40:33.340 but like, yeah, like there's times where you do well.

00:40:35.800 You're still in your life and you think, man, uh, is your dad still alive?

00:40:38.960 No, he passed, uh, four, uh, 16, 2016.

00:40:42.460 Yeah.

00:40:42.760 And it's like, man, I would, yeah.

00:40:44.680 You're like, man, my dad would be proud.

00:40:46.260 You know, there's something, there's some innate thing.

00:40:48.740 And it's for me, I start to feel in the back of my like shoulders.

00:40:51.500 Is your dad still alive?

00:40:52.640 No, my dad was eight, 70 when I was born, when he, when I was born, he was an old man.

00:40:56.420 Okay.

00:40:56.840 But so he passed away in, uh, 80, 96.

00:40:59.880 Gotcha.

00:41:00.420 But yeah, there's sometimes a moment where it's like, man, there's still this weird connective

00:41:06.480 tissue almost where I feel like if I make him proud that he can feel it, even though he's

00:41:09.580 not here, which is really, I think that's what makes it the feeling so unique.

00:41:14.400 Yeah.

00:41:15.280 Yeah.

00:41:15.640 It's a, it's a, it's a, it's a deep feeling.

00:41:18.020 It's, and it's deep seated, especially if you had a connection with your father and I

00:41:21.320 had an amazing connection with him and, uh, and he was a great man.

00:41:25.020 And, and, uh, do you think he was proud of you?

00:41:27.200 I think inside he was, I think inside he was like, like, I think to other people, he

00:41:32.960 was very proud of me, but, but to me, he was hard on me and, um, uh, and it just was

00:41:38.400 the way it was, you know, it just was the way it was.

00:41:40.660 And, and my dad was old fashioned and, and he was very macho and he was very

00:41:44.800 gregarious and outgoing.

00:41:46.060 And, and he probably thought a lot of those things that you asked me, he was

00:41:49.680 charming and he was witty and, but he, he believed, you know, with me, I'm just

00:41:53.300 like, I guess, I, okay.

00:41:54.640 You know, but it's, you know, but my father totally believed he was like, he

00:41:58.280 walked into the room.

00:41:59.040 He's like, yo, I'm in the room.

00:42:00.520 And I walk in the room, I'm like, Hey man, nice to see you at the, you know,

00:42:04.180 whatever, just a little bit different.

00:42:06.060 What are some fun things that did you, did your family do like a party every year?

00:42:08.980 Or was it like a thing that your dad, like, like what was, uh, 4th of July,

00:42:12.060 man, 4th of July.

00:42:13.060 We have a, we have a camp in Northern Wisconsin.

00:42:15.500 Yeah.

00:42:15.620 You told me, uh, uh, Bishop Gunn performed there.

00:42:17.660 Yeah.

00:42:17.800 Bishop Gunn played two years in a row there.

00:42:19.580 And what a band is Bishop Gunn.

00:42:21.320 Oh my God.

00:42:22.680 You guys get your asses back together, man.

00:42:24.900 Work it out.

00:42:25.880 Get it together.

00:42:26.360 You guys are so good, man.

00:42:28.080 Unbelievable.

00:42:28.700 Oh dude.

00:42:29.400 They're so good.

00:42:30.260 So yeah, but my, we would do a 4th of July and my dad was in charge of the

00:42:34.080 fireworks.

00:42:34.520 And man, my dad, I remember the first year my dad in charge of the fireworks,

00:42:38.880 he got a couple of styrofoam, uh, surfboards and he, and he put all like the, the, the,

00:42:44.760 what are those balls that go up in the air?

00:42:46.540 Those where they shoot the balls up and they go to, and it shoots a ball.

00:42:49.480 Oh, it shoots up like 10 of them.

00:42:50.960 Yeah.

00:42:51.280 It's not a bottle rocket.

00:42:52.460 It's not that.

00:42:53.500 Well, he had bottle rockets and, and, and these other things where you can hold them.

00:42:56.460 It's the ball in there.

00:42:56.880 Yes.

00:42:57.340 And the ball would go up and then it'll blow up.

00:42:59.080 And he wired, and he wired all this stuff together.

00:43:00.960 And I remember the first year he did it, he had these two surfboards and he lit them

00:43:04.480 both.

00:43:04.880 And, and he spent like two days before taping the wicks together and making, doing that.

00:43:08.940 My dad was an engineer just doing all this shit.

00:43:10.840 And he lit them both and pushed them and took them all.

00:43:13.260 Both of them just blew up.

00:43:14.680 And then it was a total dud show.

00:43:17.140 And then he figured out those cannons as, and then, and then they would get those tubes,

00:43:21.380 you know, with the three inch mortars and they figured out where to go get them.

00:43:24.400 I'm sure they were buying them illegally in Indiana or wherever.

00:43:26.740 I don't know why I'm saying Indiana.

00:43:28.420 I remember something about Indiana.

00:43:29.960 A lot of illegal shit in Indiana, bro.

00:43:32.020 And we will say that.

00:43:33.000 It's okay to say that.

00:43:33.960 All right.

00:43:34.340 That's cool.

00:43:35.000 So anyway, but that was my dad's deal.

00:43:36.500 The 4th of July party was great.

00:43:38.640 And, and I remember my dad would take us to his company Christmas party and it was the

00:43:42.520 only thing fancy, you know, we, it would be fancy and we'd go to a company Christmas

00:43:46.060 party.

00:43:46.900 And it sounds like in hindsight, like it sounds like maybe when you, you were young and I'm

00:43:51.060 not, I'm not, I'm not trying to get in your life or anything here.

00:43:53.200 I'm definitely fascinated.

00:43:54.240 But I'm curious about stuff like, you know, familiar relationships and how that kind of

00:43:58.780 plays into how we behave and stuff.

00:44:00.700 Yeah.

00:44:02.060 Because I wondered a lot about it in my own life and I still figured that out a lot.

00:44:05.140 I feel like I had a lot of childhood trauma.

00:44:06.500 So I'm still kind of figuring that out sometimes.

00:44:08.660 Sometimes, but it sounds like, you know, you're, that you were almost most like your father

00:44:13.980 in a lot of ways, even though when you were a kid, it seemed like your brothers probably

00:44:16.480 were, you know, I, I, I think that my brain was a lot like my father, but my father had

00:44:21.740 a natural confidence, uh, that he just, you know, uh, uh, we were just talking about Bobby

00:44:26.960 Kidrock, you know, Bobby walks into a room and he just, he just, he just owns it.

00:44:30.480 Right.

00:44:30.940 And, and, and, and, um, my father was very much like that.

00:44:34.860 And that bravado kind of just bravado and just, just owned it, you know, and, and he,

00:44:38.220 and, and, and I, I just don't have whatever I have, I've earned and I, and I, and I've

00:44:42.440 earned and I, and I pay and I, and it's, it just doesn't come naturally.

00:44:45.760 You know what I mean?

00:44:46.400 I've earned it.

00:44:47.000 I work on it.

00:44:47.680 I, because there's a lot of insecurities being a fat kid, being a poor kid or, you know,

00:44:51.860 going through what we went through.

00:44:53.040 There's a lot of, that comes with it.

00:44:54.300 And I think it comes with it forever and you get it.

00:44:56.100 And then I think that I fought the business so much and the business went from, you know,

00:45:00.600 being the little sandwich maker guy into this giant behemoth $3 billion company.

00:45:05.600 And, and so I, I went from, you know, making people smile and here's your sandwich and

00:45:10.880 thank you, sir.

00:45:11.660 Can I sell you some chips to, to, you know, the evolution was that, you know, at the end

00:45:15.560 of the, at the end, it was, it was, you know, all I can remember is litigation, you know,

00:45:20.300 is this one lawsuit after another, right?

00:45:22.500 You're freaky fast.

00:45:23.660 You must speed.

00:45:24.740 I know, uh, Mr.

00:45:25.700 We don't speed.

00:45:26.880 Well, you, but you say freaky fast.

00:45:28.200 I know, but we only deliver this.

00:45:29.720 It's a five minute drive time during peak traffic and our, and our computer system won't

00:45:34.680 take an order out of our delivery area.

00:45:36.900 We don't speed.

00:45:38.060 It's just, we design the delivery system that way.

00:45:41.140 Well, but you, you, you, but people speed and, you know, you know, it was so hard to

00:45:45.880 convince, you know, because we, we got sued often for crashes and shit.

00:45:49.800 Oh, really?

00:45:50.700 Absolutely.

00:45:51.220 Well, you're freaky fast, but then the people that we were freaky fast, not because we were

00:45:54.780 freaky fast.

00:45:55.260 Cause we, I made the delivery area small and I made the delivery area small so we could

00:45:59.360 be really, have really good service.

00:46:01.060 And I wanted to be the really good service guy instead of the great sandwich guy, you

00:46:05.580 know?

00:46:05.880 And so I focused more on the service than I did the speed, but it was, but at the end,

00:46:09.960 you know, the, the, it just changed a lot.

00:46:11.740 Right.

00:46:12.040 And that's why I just, you know, I just, it was uncle.

00:46:14.280 It was time for me to be out of it.

00:46:15.920 So, but it changed a lot.

00:46:17.540 You know, it was really romantic at the beginning.

00:46:19.660 There were long nights, but the problems I could solve.

00:46:22.000 And then it got to, you know, problems that I couldn't solve.

00:46:24.200 Then it just, just became a behemoth.

00:46:26.160 It was a big, big company when I sold it and we're vertically integrated, right?

00:46:29.900 We supplied all the food to all the stores and, and.

00:46:32.520 Oh, wow.

00:46:32.840 So kind of like that Ray Kroc model kind of.

00:46:34.400 Kind of.

00:46:34.960 Yeah.

00:46:35.380 Yeah.

00:46:35.760 Yeah.

00:46:35.900 I think, didn't they?

00:46:36.520 Yeah.

00:46:36.680 They ended up supplying.

00:46:38.220 Supplying all the stores.

00:46:39.280 A lot.

00:46:39.580 Yeah.

00:46:39.720 Supplying all their own stores.

00:46:40.600 The majority of the products we supplied.

00:46:42.240 So, yeah.

00:46:43.020 Now, what point did you start to study other business?

00:46:45.840 You know, was there a point where that, where you're like, where you started to become,

00:46:48.840 okay, I'm not a sandwich maker.

00:46:50.940 I am a businessman.

00:46:52.400 Like, does that kind of start to happen at some point?

00:46:55.360 Yeah, for sure.

00:46:56.060 No, for the first time is I'm learning how to make sandwiches.

00:46:58.540 Then I learned how to be a boss.

00:46:59.760 Then I learned how to do math.

00:47:01.020 Then I learned how to be an accountant.

00:47:02.580 Then I realized, you know, I got to sell these things.

00:47:05.220 Then I figured out how to deliver.

00:47:06.820 And then I figured out, you know, how to, how to print a menu.

00:47:10.080 And then I figured out, then I had to write a menu.

00:47:11.700 And then, then I had to get the menus printed.

00:47:14.060 And then I said, you know what?

00:47:15.100 I'm going to take these menus.

00:47:16.100 I'm going to print them on a sticky card and people can tear them off and stick them, you know,

00:47:19.460 on their dorm desk.

00:47:20.340 And so I had the, I had my menus, they were sticky menus and they were all over the campuses

00:47:24.560 and people love stickers.

00:47:25.820 So I made my menus into stickers and I saw my, my stuff all over the place.

00:47:29.540 Right.

00:47:29.900 I mean, I had dorm rooms decorated with my Jimmy John's menus.

00:47:32.700 I figured out how to do that.

00:47:33.920 Then I figured out, you know, how to do an ad and I placed an ad and didn't work.

00:47:37.120 And then I started doing these big headlines.

00:47:38.700 So I figured out how to place an ad and then I figured out how to buy an ad.

00:47:41.880 And so then, then I went through that.

00:47:43.240 Then I went, then I had to find real estate.

00:47:44.940 Then I had to figure out what is good real estate and what works and what doesn't work.

00:47:49.020 And then I had to figure out what a lease is.

00:47:51.080 And you figure out what a good lease is by getting burned on a couple of bad leases.

00:47:54.780 Then you figure out what a good lease is.

00:47:56.280 And then you get good locations and you get good leases.

00:47:58.860 And then, and then you got to, and then from there, you know, then I had to figure out franchising.

00:48:03.480 I had 10 stores over 10 years and I, I wrote the opening and closing procedures.

00:48:07.380 And I did that during those 10 years.

00:48:08.840 So all of those 10 stores could be operated the same way.

00:48:11.720 And my customers had the same experience, whether I was there or not.

00:48:15.080 I compensated my manager with a piece of the action every time, right?

00:48:18.720 Every, so that we, we were all copacetic, all symbiotic, everybody's happy.

00:48:22.400 So you had to figure all that out.

00:48:23.980 And then as that grew, then I, then when I, and when I started franchising Theo in 93, I joined this organization called Young Presidents Organization.

00:48:31.640 And they said, as a founder, you got to give up your power or give up and hire a, put a professional in to run your company because you're an entrepreneur.

00:48:39.760 So I took that advice and I hired some professionals from a large restaurant company to run my franchise company and dumb me stayed running the company stores.

00:48:49.080 So in 93, I hired two execs and we started franchising the Jimmy John's model.

00:48:54.160 So I had to learn that.

00:48:55.100 I had to, I had to save up the money to do it.

00:48:56.940 And then I had to learn what a franchise contract is, what a FDD is, which is a federal disclosure document that the feds make you create.

00:49:04.820 I had to learn what that was.

00:49:06.340 Then when I had to write one, then I had to write a bad one to write a good one.

00:49:09.260 So I figured out how to write a good FDD, you know, and then, and then, and then I had to figure out what a good franchise he was.

00:49:14.880 And so from 93 to 2003, we opened, we had 176 Jimmy John's franchise stores and had 23 company stores.

00:49:22.960 And this is a relevant part of this story.

00:49:25.500 My 23 stores at that time were making me about 4 million bucks a year, just those 23 stores profit.

00:49:32.080 And I had no debt.

00:49:33.020 I didn't have debt because I didn't know how to get debt.

00:49:35.100 And my sales were going straight up at my 23 company stores.

00:49:38.220 My 176 franchise stores, sales were going down and had 76 of them failing.

00:49:43.340 So 93 to 2003, I was in denial.

00:49:46.120 I was taking the franchise fees.

00:49:47.840 It was intoxicating.

00:49:48.880 Yeah.

00:49:49.080 How much did you get on the franchise fees?

00:49:51.380 25 grand a pop.

00:49:52.560 Ooh, yeah.

00:49:52.860 So that was intoxicating money.

00:49:54.440 Oh, yeah.

00:49:54.600 And finally, James, James North, who's my president, he came to me and he said, Jimmy, he's, we got to stop selling franchises, man.

00:50:00.680 Why?

00:50:00.980 He's just because we got nothing.

00:50:02.140 This thing's, we got, we got half the stores are failing.

00:50:03.740 And why was it, what's that, what was the number one cause of why the stores were failing?

00:50:07.260 Well, we, we, so we, we stopped selling franchises.

00:50:10.260 But no, why were the ones that were failing?

00:50:11.900 Oh, right.

00:50:12.600 The answer to the question is they weren't following systems and procedures and they didn't put our process on a pedestal because the company, the people that I hired from this other company didn't have such systems and procedures that we had at Jimmy John's.

00:50:24.780 Jimmy John's is the most consistent chain that, I mean, Jimmy John's SBA loan was the highest performing lowest failure rate SBA loan in the country because we were, have you had consistent experiences at Jimmy John's?

00:50:38.100 I have.

00:50:38.660 That's the reason, that's the reason for it.

00:50:40.180 So they weren't following our program, we were.

00:50:42.760 So we fired all those guys and James and myself literally went on the road in 2003.

00:50:47.680 I had, Freddie was, was two years old.

00:50:51.200 Lucy was three.

00:50:52.240 Who's your children?

00:50:52.780 My children and here I'm going to go on the road again.

00:50:55.400 Now, after I'm on the road 20 years, I'm going to go back on the road again and turn around 76 sub shops that were failing.

00:51:01.120 So he and I did.

00:51:02.040 We went on the road.

00:51:03.140 It was a 12 month plan.

00:51:04.320 We ended up on the road for 18 months and we turned around 70 of 76 stores ourselves with our own hands.

00:51:10.300 And from that point forward, when we got back 2004-ish, late 2004, I said, I'm going to tell every single person that wants to open a Jimmy John's that this is a lifestyle.

00:51:20.140 This is nights.

00:51:20.920 This is weekends.

00:51:21.560 This is no weddings, no funerals.

00:51:23.620 You can't get the sniffles.

00:51:25.020 You can't have hurt feelings.

00:51:26.520 This is a brand that if you buy into this, it's like having children, man.

00:51:32.020 And so I told people the truth about it because I didn't want to do that again.

00:51:35.020 I was done.

00:51:35.980 I didn't have another one of those in me.

00:51:37.820 And when you say another one of those, what do you mean?

00:51:39.940 Being on the road for 18 months, 24-7 again?

00:51:42.220 Did that ruin your marriage, you think?

00:51:43.360 No, no way.

00:51:44.320 No, I got divorced back in 93.

00:51:47.280 So I was with my current wife.

00:51:49.800 And no, it didn't ruin my marriage.

00:51:51.380 But it made me...

00:51:52.380 Because that's a lot, man.

00:51:53.440 It's a lot.

00:51:53.900 And when you say it, it reminded me of stand-up comedy.

00:51:55.780 Like so many of my friends' funerals I've missed.

00:51:57.640 So many of my friends' weddings I've missed.

00:51:59.500 Yeah.

00:51:59.720 And you, you know, it adjusts your friendship.

00:52:01.580 When you don't make somebody's wedding, man, it adjusts your friendship with them a little bit.

00:52:05.160 For sure.

00:52:05.780 And it's kind of weird because sometimes you get to the end of the line and you have this

00:52:08.800 career that's nice.

00:52:10.320 But you've definitely...

00:52:12.740 There were a lot of stair steps that you missed along the way.

00:52:15.360 A lot of social ones and emotional ones with other people.

00:52:17.900 For sure.

00:52:18.500 For sure.

00:52:18.940 But after we got back from that and we did that road trip and we turned the stores around,

00:52:23.160 literally, you want to open Jimmy John's, we told you the truth.

00:52:26.240 I was making enough money.

00:52:27.500 Remember I said my 23 stores were making me...

00:52:29.240 Before, you're just kind of handing them out.

00:52:30.960 Yeah.

00:52:31.280 A little bit.

00:52:31.800 Yeah, but not anymore.

00:52:33.080 So now, what do you have to change in the documentation on y'all's end to assure that people will

00:52:38.200 run it a certain way?

00:52:39.420 Is there anything legally that you have to change?

00:52:41.200 No, but what I did is I had a conversation like we're having, Theo.

00:52:44.380 This is...

00:52:44.940 I'm Jimmy.

00:52:45.460 You're Theo.

00:52:46.640 We're going to have a conversation about real stuff.

00:52:48.800 And I would sit down just like this and say, look, it's nights.

00:52:51.560 It's weekends.

00:52:52.340 It's not forgiving.

00:52:53.720 It's not flexible.

00:52:54.620 There are no days off.

00:52:55.580 Do you really want to do this?

00:52:57.280 Okay.

00:52:57.700 If you do it, we'll give you one store.

00:52:59.480 Great.

00:53:00.240 We train you.

00:53:01.120 We made it really hard.

00:53:01.960 We had to come to Champaign, Illinois, train for three weeks and then do a two-week internship

00:53:05.860 somewhere else in a city like their store is going to be.

00:53:09.000 Made it really hard for them to do.

00:53:10.920 You know what I mean?

00:53:11.720 Wow.

00:53:11.900 And then they did that.

00:53:12.800 And then they opened up and we helped them.

00:53:14.500 And then if they were really good at it and they wanted to do another one, we let them.

00:53:17.880 And if they hated it, we'd get them out really quick.

00:53:20.620 And so we teamed up with people that really wanted to do it.

00:53:23.580 You know, I was in the selling business.

00:53:24.760 I was hustling.

00:53:25.980 So, and then I realized, well, I'm hustling, but I'm hustling bullshit, you know?

00:53:29.740 And so I quit.

00:53:30.520 You know, I started just telling it like it is.

00:53:32.040 And I remember I was in this beautiful situation because I didn't have debt.

00:53:35.960 I had, I was making the dough for my company owned stores.

00:53:38.180 So I said, if I'm going to have this growth vehicle, it's going to be solid as a rock.

00:53:42.520 And that's what I wanted, man.

00:53:43.520 And do you owe that to Mr. Northcutt a lot?

00:53:45.540 Oh, for sure.

00:53:46.640 Absolutely.

00:53:47.240 That was, that was his idea to do that.

00:53:49.500 And, uh, and Jay, he's, he's brand president right now working for Inspire Brands.

00:53:53.180 Was it hard?

00:53:53.960 Oh, wow.

00:53:54.460 Yeah.

00:53:54.700 Was it hard for him to stop to like get your attention?

00:53:58.380 No way.

00:53:58.580 Because it wasn't.

00:53:59.740 No, when he talked, I listened.

00:54:01.120 And when I talked, he listened.

00:54:02.620 Greatest partner in the world.

00:54:03.980 He's a one, he's one of the greatest guys I ever met.

00:54:06.300 I mean, he's, he's trustee to my children.

00:54:08.200 I mean, he's a, he's a world-class man.

00:54:10.520 Met him in, met him in, uh, in, in Cold Bay, Alaska in 1999.

00:54:13.640 He was a high school kid.

00:54:14.900 And I just met him.

00:54:15.720 I said, come on to America and, and, uh, I'll teach you to be the greatest sandwich maker

00:54:19.360 in the world.

00:54:19.780 He said, tell me about your sandwich shop.

00:54:20.940 I said, it's great.

00:54:21.480 We're open from 10 to two.

00:54:22.520 He says, shit, I'm just, I'm just out of college.

00:54:24.780 I'll come.

00:54:25.140 Were you open to 10 to two?

00:54:26.200 He says, I'll come.

00:54:27.160 So he comes all the way from New Zealand to join me.

00:54:29.480 He says, I didn't know you meant 10 to 2 a.m.

00:54:31.460 He said, I thought it was 10 to 2 p.m.

00:54:34.040 He's like, oh shit, I'm here.

00:54:35.660 So anyway, that's a true story.

00:54:37.580 So he's still there running it.

00:54:38.960 Oh, that's hilarious.

00:54:40.160 Yeah, it's funny.

00:54:41.320 Today's episode is brought to you by BetterHelp.

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00:54:57.060 And, you know, I remember a couple, probably about a year, a year and a half ago, I pulled off the side of the road.

00:55:03.660 I said, I need some dang help.

00:55:04.820 I was in my car and I couldn't get any help.

00:55:07.200 So I said, I need BetterHelp.

00:55:08.980 And I got on the phone.

00:55:11.080 Next scene, I'm FaceTiming with a licensed therapist.

00:55:15.040 Right there on the side of the road.

00:55:16.300 People honking.

00:55:17.420 People calling me the F word.

00:55:18.880 People calling me dirty names.

00:55:20.880 Creepussy.

00:55:22.440 But I was getting help, man.

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00:55:47.820 Look, if you want to put that, you know, an athlete is something that's active, something that's moving, something that is creating beauty, something that is making things that is in motion.

00:56:04.740 And what I'm talking about is athletic greens.

00:56:07.660 They basically took an athlete and put it into greens, baby.

00:56:10.880 One of the ways I've taken ownership over my health is with athletic greens.

00:56:16.540 You take it in the morning.

00:56:17.600 It's easy.

00:56:18.260 You mix it in.

00:56:19.220 It's a great mix.

00:56:20.320 You mix it right into water.

00:56:21.620 Boom.

00:56:22.460 I throw a nice cube in there for that temperature of comfort.

00:56:26.880 You get that temperature at the same spot you need it.

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00:57:28.160 We have a question right here that came in from a young man.

00:57:32.560 Theo Vaughn.

00:57:33.360 Hello from England.

00:57:34.000 Before I get on to my question for Jimmy John, Mr. Jimmy John, I'd like to say to you thank you for your consistent rare light shining through dark times, making these uncertain times a little bit easier to deal with, a little bit less of a struggle on a daily basis.

00:57:51.540 So thank you from the bottom of my heart for that.

00:57:55.500 And to you, Mr. Jimmy John, when I was over in Boston working over there, I got a taste for that freaky, fast, freaky, fresh hitter, Vito.

00:58:06.560 And I was wondering when he planned on bringing his sandwiches over to England at all, mainly because at the moment all we've got is Subway, which sucks.

00:58:15.800 Yeah, and I made love to a girl near a Subway once.

00:58:18.820 So did I.

00:58:20.180 Amen, brother.

00:58:21.800 Jimmy John's freaky, fast, freaky, fresh international.

00:58:26.900 Is it a possibility?

00:58:29.480 Thanks, guys.

00:58:30.460 Gang, gang.

00:58:31.080 Gang, brother.

00:58:31.600 And thanks for the nice words, man.

00:58:32.700 Merry Christmas to you, man.

00:58:33.740 I love you.

00:58:34.320 And thanks for being a part of this podcast.

00:58:37.600 Send me your address and I'll FedEx you some sandwiches anytime you want.

00:58:41.420 I'll tell you what.

00:58:42.060 I'll do it for you once a month.

00:58:43.820 You can get my email address from Theo and I'll hook you up.

00:58:48.080 I'll FedEx them with ice packs and you'll get them fresh in England.

00:58:50.660 And I don't own it anymore, buddy.

00:58:52.180 Yeah, we'll send you some, though.

00:58:53.400 That's very sweet of you.

00:58:54.560 That'd be great.

00:58:55.160 Hey, look, man.

00:58:55.680 It's a Christmas gift for you from Jimmy John himself, man.

00:58:59.380 You know, you guys' group does good, though, man.

00:59:01.060 And they set me up with a lifetime membership.

00:59:03.420 Oh, really?

00:59:04.000 Yep.

00:59:04.960 Because I've been a long-time Jimmy John each time.

00:59:07.580 I'm a turkey time guy.

00:59:08.900 And so I would get the turkey time and I would just talk about it on Snapchat or on Instagram story.

00:59:14.540 And then, yeah, one day they wrote me back.

00:59:16.300 And I remember I took the card to the guy here and the guy was like, dang, I don't even know if I've ever even seen one of these.

00:59:21.100 He was like all stoked, you know?

00:59:22.660 Dude, I thought I was the only one that gave those out.

00:59:24.960 So, good, my guys were doing the right thing.

00:59:28.080 I don't think they're giving them to everybody, though.

00:59:29.880 No, they're not.

00:59:30.660 It was nice that they did it, though.

00:59:33.300 You still got it?

00:59:34.360 I still got it, yeah.

00:59:35.460 Sweet.

00:59:36.640 We just shot a sketch this morning with Brett Favre Jr., actually, and we were doing, we gave the card to my buddy to go treat everybody to lunch.

00:59:45.180 Oh, nice.

00:59:45.580 Whenever I came over here.

00:59:47.920 Okay, so let's get into a little bit more of like, so you got, you have the business.

00:59:52.300 Because what changed for you when you became, were you guys rich when you were a kid?

00:59:57.380 No, I told you we were poor twice.

00:59:59.540 So, but we were bankrupt in 72 and 76, and I left home in 82.

01:00:04.320 And then my father, I would say he started, he got out of debt in 76.

01:00:08.680 And when I was in high school, my father had a Cadillac.

01:00:11.580 So, I don't know what your definition of rich is or what your definition of spicy is, but he had a Cadillac, you know?

01:00:17.100 And then when I left home, and he became way more successful after I left home, you know?

01:00:23.060 What business did he get into?

01:00:24.120 So, my father was a book salesman, and then he was a plastic molder.

01:00:27.740 My father invented the process of molding molten plastic around metal.

01:00:31.780 It was called insert molding.

01:00:33.280 It was a technology that he, he was the, he really created the technology.

01:00:36.880 And essentially what it did is, anytime you could take metal out of a part and make the majority of the part plastic,

01:00:43.460 and just make the metal on metal contact metal, and the rest, you could remove cost out of a part.

01:00:48.680 So, you know, it was a great technology.

01:00:50.820 And so, so the first time, he just didn't do his books right.

01:00:53.980 And in 76, he developed a CB antenna.

01:00:57.360 And to make a CB antenna, CB antenna.

01:00:59.280 I love CB antennas.

01:01:00.080 You had to coil copper wire around a magnet.

01:01:03.780 And, and, and it was your antenna base.

01:01:05.920 Well, my dad molded it, and by molding it, he could make them very consistent, make, made them perform better.

01:01:10.820 And his top salesman, top accountant, top engineer, split, stole the design,

01:01:15.940 and went and opened up a competing business and bankrupted him.

01:01:18.800 And that was in 76.

01:01:20.320 And that's how he got bankrupt the second time they, they, and, and the government and the courts were so slow

01:01:25.720 that by the time he got to the courts and got in suing them, the antenna.

01:01:29.380 Technology had passed him.

01:01:30.640 Well, the, the, the CB business had been flying.

01:01:33.060 And yeah, basically.

01:01:33.900 And so, but anyway, he learned and, uh, uh, you know, had a little humility and, and, uh, and worked his ass off.

01:01:39.760 And, and that's, that must've been heartbreaking though.

01:01:41.500 You have your family going, you know, you're working so hard on something you're inventing, you're creating something.

01:01:47.140 Yeah.

01:01:47.640 It's like a baby.

01:01:48.460 It's like your thing.

01:01:49.700 Yeah.

01:01:50.260 Yeah.

01:01:50.420 And then somebody burns you like that.

01:01:52.440 Somebody burns you.

01:01:52.760 But welcome to the club, right?

01:01:53.900 It's business, man.

01:01:54.620 It's also business.

01:01:55.520 It's life.

01:01:56.520 It's life.

01:01:57.040 It is life.

01:01:57.500 But from that, my father created a product called the K40 CB antenna that guaranteed,

01:02:02.100 it was guaranteed to transmit further and receive clearer than any other antenna.

01:02:05.640 And he sold them, uh, over the telephone to independent dealers.

01:02:09.300 And, uh, and that became a, that became a successful business.

01:02:12.160 And so, yeah, dad, dad ended up doing well, but I was gone.

01:02:15.180 I, I mean, like I told you, I was raised, we didn't, we didn't have stuff.

01:02:17.980 We had a lot of love, but not stuff.

01:02:19.280 I think my younger brother and sister had a little, a little, a little cushier time

01:02:23.200 than, than my older brother and I.

01:02:24.980 Um, do you think your dad felt achieved by the time he had passed away in his life?

01:02:28.360 My dad was very achieved.

01:02:30.040 Right.

01:02:30.320 Do you think he felt it though?

01:02:31.340 I understand that he was.

01:02:32.120 Yeah.

01:02:32.580 I would say, was he content, you know, as content as any man can be?

01:02:39.720 Cause contentment, you know, contentment is fleeting.

01:02:42.860 It's a, it's a, it's temporary, right?

01:02:44.820 Perfection's a journey, not a destination.

01:02:46.480 Right.

01:02:46.900 So, you know, I would say at moments he felt, but I might,

01:02:49.280 my dad was pretty proud of himself.

01:02:51.160 Um, he just was naturally, uh,

01:02:53.480 but to be able to fill that, I bet to be able to be it and then actually kind of stuff it

01:02:57.900 with the right cotton, you know, by the end of the line, I bet that probably felt pretty

01:03:01.880 cool.

01:03:02.080 Yeah.

01:03:02.280 I would.

01:03:02.580 Yeah.

01:03:02.860 Yeah.

01:03:03.060 My, my, my dad was proud of himself and, and, and he should be, he, he rocked it.

01:03:07.180 I mean, he set the foundation for me to do what I did and I would listen to him when

01:03:11.160 I was a kid.

01:03:11.720 He was working all the time.

01:03:12.740 He's on the phone all the time and, and, and, and doing his books after he, after he didn't do

01:03:16.880 his books right.

01:03:17.520 And, you know, I learned to do my books cause I knew I had to know my books.

01:03:20.340 And I know one of the kids said, you know, what do you got to do to be successful?

01:03:23.640 You got to have a better product than everybody else.

01:03:25.320 You got to know your costs and you got to outwork the competition.

01:03:27.800 And if you can do those three things, you can be successful, but you got to be willing

01:03:31.620 to do it.

01:03:32.080 You can't just Google it.

01:03:33.520 You got to do it.

01:03:34.360 You got to get in there and be uncomfortable when most people don't want to be uncomfortable.

01:03:37.860 Right.

01:03:38.140 Right.

01:03:38.340 That's how you did it.

01:03:39.060 And so I don't know where I'm going with that.

01:03:40.880 No, it's a good point.

01:03:41.820 Look, I mean, I remember walking out of, uh, you know, Joe Rogan studio and being like,

01:03:46.800 man, that guy has it made, you know?

01:03:48.440 And, and, um, and then I remember thinking, well, how could I do that?

01:03:53.000 And I started doing some podcasting in my kitchen, you know, and just kind of built it

01:03:57.140 in and built a camera.

01:03:58.100 And I would get one on my, you know, bought a camera and got a, you know, just a thing on

01:04:01.740 my desk.

01:04:02.180 And then my computer would record also stay up, edit it, put in the music.

01:04:06.760 And then one day some people started listening, you know, putting it out there, putting the

01:04:10.680 product out there.

01:04:11.220 And then a guy called me from this place called gray block pizza.

01:04:13.500 It's a small pizza place.

01:04:14.540 And in LA and Bend, Oregon, they have a branch and they were our charter sponsor for years

01:04:19.580 and they still are.

01:04:20.540 And really that's where the term get that hitter came from, which is, uh, now one of our main

01:04:24.360 merchandise pieces.

01:04:25.900 But, um, and he's still right now your, your guy.

01:04:28.780 Yep.

01:04:29.260 He's still my guy.

01:04:30.200 This, uh, this guy, Thomas.

01:04:31.460 And he said, you know what, man, I believe in you.

01:04:33.900 He goes, what you need to get, you need to get a studio.

01:04:35.740 You know, you just, and he goes, I'll give you a thousand dollars a month.

01:04:38.840 And I said, well, man, I, you know, if you give me a thousand dollars, I'm gonna keep that

01:04:43.320 thousand dollars.

01:04:44.020 Yeah.

01:04:44.100 I'm not spending it on a studio, man.

01:04:45.620 You know what I'm saying?

01:04:46.000 I'm gonna take that thousand dollars.

01:04:46.940 I'm gonna go retire.

01:04:47.860 Right.

01:04:48.100 You know, like that's where my brain was.

01:04:49.900 And he goes, no, man, you can't see it.

01:04:51.580 He goes, you can't see it.

01:04:52.620 But if you get to here, you're going to be fine when you get there.

01:04:55.640 He goes, you've just never been there.

01:04:57.580 You know, you just never, and it wasn't a big jump, but it was, yeah, get in a place.

01:05:01.560 And then we bought a studio, man.

01:05:02.860 The first studio we released was, uh, take away this little enclave.

01:05:06.180 And it was just as big as this room.

01:05:08.100 And man, we had some amazing guests came in there.

01:05:11.400 Dustin Poirier came in.

01:05:13.060 Jordan Peterson, who's one of the premier like, uh, speakers and, and, and orders and, and

01:05:18.480 brains of our time.

01:05:20.480 Um, Burt Kreischer, Tom Segura, just, we had amazing guests in this little bitty space,

01:05:24.740 you know, and, uh, was it in Bend, Oregon?

01:05:26.720 No, this was in, uh, in LA and LA.

01:05:28.760 This was in LA.

01:05:29.340 Yeah.

01:05:29.880 But yeah, we moved from our kitchen over to another place.

01:05:32.020 And then now we have two studios now and we have two podcasts and it's definitely, it's

01:05:37.380 a lot more work now.

01:05:38.840 You know, you don't get to just sit there and be the fun guy sometimes, you know, you don't

01:05:42.520 get to be the, you know, some friends of mine have been in sitcoms and they say, once

01:05:47.500 you get in the sitcom and it's about you, you don't get to be the guy telling the jokes.

01:05:51.060 You're the guy in the middle that everybody around you is telling the jokes.

01:05:53.900 And sometimes I think some of business starts to get, get to be like that.

01:05:58.060 You don't get to be as much the, the goof anymore, a hundred percent of the time.

01:06:03.140 Cause you gotta be the glue a lot of the times, you know, or try to be both.

01:06:07.740 You gotta be both.

01:06:08.660 And it's different things at different times, right?

01:06:10.800 Sometimes you need to love, sometimes you need to motivate and sometimes you need to

01:06:14.300 correct.

01:06:14.680 And sometimes you need to celebrate and it's a, it's a, it's a balancing act, man.

01:06:18.720 It's spinning plates.

01:06:19.580 And I think we have a very similar story.

01:06:21.600 I think a very similar story, just different medium.

01:06:24.320 I was doing sandwiches.

01:06:25.260 You're doing what you're doing with your intellect and your comedy.

01:06:28.440 And, uh, you know, it's the, it's the, it's the thing of self-serving.

01:06:31.800 It's like, how do I put out something that's good?

01:06:33.820 How meticulous am I?

01:06:35.520 Were there times where you were too meticulous?

01:06:37.660 Cause I find that in myself sometimes I'm too on top of people about things.

01:06:42.080 And it almost just, it like debilitates me sometimes with the folk where my focus is

01:06:47.440 that overall it hurts things, you know, 100% use, you know, was I, was I ever too meticulous?

01:06:53.780 I was very much penny wise and pound foolish.

01:06:56.500 So when the business got to be, you know, approaching $3 billion in sales, almost 3000

01:07:01.440 stores, 1900 in the pipeline.

01:07:03.560 And I mean, this thing was, we were opening 30 stores a month, selling 45 new deals a

01:07:07.980 month.

01:07:08.340 I mean, it, it, it was, it was a monster.

01:07:10.360 I wouldn't even go to sleep if I was doing that.

01:07:11.820 It was, I couldn't, it was crazy.

01:07:13.420 It was driving me nuts.

01:07:14.240 And when I actually talked to James North today, who's the current brand president.

01:07:18.640 Um, and, uh, as I talked to him today, he's a real strategic big thinker and I'm, I'm an

01:07:24.220 operator like, okay, shit's bad.

01:07:26.260 Okay.

01:07:26.460 Let's go get more drivers.

01:07:27.640 Let's bake better bread.

01:07:28.740 Let's clean the store better.

01:07:30.220 You know, let's, uh, let's, let's make the lights brighter.

01:07:32.320 You know, I'm a real sort of a pragmatic operator and James was a real strategic thinker.

01:07:38.240 So I was focusing so much on, on, on little stuff that I was missing sight of the big stuff.

01:07:44.540 You follow me?

01:07:45.300 And so for me at the time that, I mean, how I got it as big as I got it, I have no idea.

01:07:50.620 I got so lucky and selling it and, you know, and, and, and doing the final deal in October

01:07:55.540 of 19, you know, before COVID and everything, I got lucky, but, but I was not, uh, I got way

01:08:01.840 caught up in the minutiae way.

01:08:03.360 The lawsuits were personal for the, for, for, and for big companies, lawsuits aren't personal.

01:08:07.520 For me, it was another attack on me, another attack on me, like the shark, another attack

01:08:12.280 on Jimmy, another attack on Jimmy.

01:08:14.120 That's not me.

01:08:14.920 I'm not, that's not me with the shark.

01:08:16.320 Oh yeah, that's Jim.

01:08:17.260 No, it's, it's not me.

01:08:18.340 Right.

01:08:18.580 You know, but the, the attack, the attack.

01:08:20.180 Yeah.

01:08:20.300 That's you killing these drivers, whatever.

01:08:21.800 That's not me, man.

01:08:22.760 It's like, we just have a, a, a advertising plan.

01:08:25.520 Like, that's right.

01:08:26.700 Wow.

01:08:26.920 So, so, so, so I just, so when I, when you take things personally, if you work real hard

01:08:32.500 and you started from the grassroots, it's all personal to you.

01:08:35.220 It is personal.

01:08:36.080 It's extremely personal, man.

01:08:37.940 Yeah.

01:08:38.260 So I'm just getting over that now.

01:08:39.620 And I'm actually, when the, when the sale first went down, it was weird, man.

01:08:43.980 You know, when, cause you guys sold for what?

01:08:45.840 150.

01:08:47.620 What'd you guys sell for?

01:08:49.200 Dollars?

01:08:49.700 150 billion.

01:08:50.380 I was going to say 150.

01:08:51.360 No, you know what?

01:08:52.180 That's insane amount, isn't it?

01:08:53.540 I'd love to tell you, but I'm, you can't tell, but it's confidential.

01:08:57.100 So you guys sold, but now when you sell, then let's go to this.

01:08:59.320 When you sell, what does that mean?

01:09:00.460 You sell what?

01:09:01.300 Are you still a chairman?

01:09:02.480 Are you still, do they, are you still questions?

01:09:05.320 Are you still doing sometimes, man?

01:09:07.660 So let me, let me tell you how it works.

01:09:09.080 So you said like, Jimmy, when did you start to think about getting in under other businesses?

01:09:12.420 You asked me that earlier in 2007, I sold 28% of the business.

01:09:16.980 And so I had a chunk of dough and I didn't know how to invest.

01:09:19.640 So I bought farm ground and I bought gold.

01:09:22.100 Okay.

01:09:23.060 And let me tell you how naive I was.

01:09:25.680 My brilliant Jewish partners, they're awesome guys, Michael Lazarus.

01:09:30.620 He says, he says, oh, you bought gold.

01:09:32.300 What gold fund did you buy?

01:09:33.460 I said, what's a gold fund?

01:09:34.780 He says, you took physical possession of gold?

01:09:37.060 I said, yeah, man.

01:09:37.960 I bought 400 ounce bars.

01:09:39.420 And he said, you just buy a fund.

01:09:41.720 I didn't even know what a gold fund was.

01:09:43.340 So, but I understood farming.

01:09:44.820 You know, you buy the seed.

01:09:45.560 So, so I started thinking about other businesses and, you know, at that time I sold 28% of it.

01:09:50.720 And then in 2006, then I gave my employees 7% of the company and I still own 65%.

01:09:56.960 In 2016, I sold 30 points of my 65 points to a company called Rourke Capital.

01:10:03.360 And they own, you know, they, they, they, they, they have like 30,000 restaurants.

01:10:07.520 They own, they own Aunt Anne's, they own Carvel.

01:10:09.800 They have a, a, a, offshoot Inspire Brands who we merged with.

01:10:13.600 They have Arby's, Buffalo, Wild Wings, Sonic, and Jimmy Johnson now just bought Dunkin' Donuts, right?

01:10:18.380 Oh, wow.

01:10:18.760 So, so I sold, so I sold 30 points to them in 2016.

01:10:22.540 And then 35%, I merged my final 35% with Inspire Brands.

01:10:27.900 And so now I'm a, I'm a large shareholder of Inspire Brands.

01:10:31.360 And so that's how it works and that's how it worked for me.

01:10:34.260 It's not how everybody does it.

01:10:36.000 It's how I did it.

01:10:36.960 And, and that, that way just worked for me.

01:10:39.260 Are you pleased with how you did it looking back?

01:10:40.960 Yeah.

01:10:41.460 Are you kidding me?

01:10:42.380 I think, I mean, come on.

01:10:44.240 I mean, are you kidding me?

01:10:45.480 Well, but, but when you're perfection, when you are someone who's to the minutiae, are there

01:10:48.800 things that, are there things you would have done any differently looking back?

01:10:52.700 Cause look, man, I'll be laying in a fucking gold coffin complaining about something.

01:10:58.280 I got rid of the gold bars, by the way.

01:11:00.060 Yeah, I sold them at the right time too.

01:11:02.520 Oh, thank God, man.

01:11:03.560 Yeah.

01:11:03.720 That's a tricky business.

01:11:04.820 But, uh, um, you know, are there things that I wished I did different?

01:11:08.820 Gosh, yes.

01:11:09.980 You know, I, I wish I, I wouldn't have, uh, I, there's a lot of things I wish I would

01:11:13.780 have done different, but you know, that, that, that's the beauty of life.

01:11:16.200 And that's, that's the beauty of age and wisdom and, and, and, and, and with, with wisdom and

01:11:20.520 with experience comes some peace.

01:11:22.000 And, and, and my brain, I got a side of my brain that's been able to grow now that, that

01:11:27.440 wasn't growing because of the noise.

01:11:29.100 The noise was so intense and, and, and the noise was just so intense.

01:11:32.960 And I mean, my, my resting heart rate, when I wake up in the morning, I was under 60 and

01:11:36.360 I weighed 275 pounds, you know?

01:11:38.600 And it was like a hundred, you know?

01:11:40.920 So it's, it's, uh, the noise is gone and the peace is here and, and, and, and my family's

01:11:46.240 here and, you know, life is good.

01:11:47.800 And my timing, I got lucky with my timing, Theo, give me a break.

01:11:51.140 Yeah.

01:11:51.460 Get out of here.

01:11:52.320 I got lucky.

01:11:52.940 Okay.

01:11:53.180 I'll take it.

01:11:54.060 Right.

01:11:54.340 I'll take it.

01:11:55.220 Sometimes you put a hundred bucks on red when you spin the wheel and you hit red.

01:11:58.600 I'll take the hundred.

01:11:59.440 Take the fucking red.

01:12:00.280 Yeah.

01:12:00.500 So there you go.

01:12:01.500 Yeah.

01:12:01.620 That's a good point.

01:12:02.340 Yeah.

01:12:02.520 Sometimes there's even this weird like thing about taking like luck, you know, it's like, it feels

01:12:06.580 like it wasn't like yours, but yeah, it's like, you got to take that, man.

01:12:09.520 That's life.

01:12:10.080 It is life.

01:12:10.640 Cause it'll get, it could just as easily go the other way.

01:12:12.380 And it does.

01:12:13.000 Yeah.

01:12:13.240 And it most often does.

01:12:14.540 Absolutely.

01:12:15.060 It most often does.

01:12:16.020 Let's take a question right here from a young fellow right here.

01:12:18.220 Come on.

01:12:19.060 Jimmy John, one question.

01:12:21.000 What do you get at Jimmy John's?

01:12:24.460 Fucking mind blowing.

01:12:25.860 Oh.

01:12:26.040 And you like some way better.

01:12:27.880 Right on.

01:12:28.900 So I love a turkey tom with onions and oil and vinegar added to it.

01:12:32.720 I love a turkey tom that way, but if you get it that way, you got to eat it immediately.

01:12:36.180 You can't wait.

01:12:37.420 My go-to sandwich is the new East coast hoagie.

01:12:40.040 So you got to get the new number seven East coast spicy hoagie.

01:12:42.980 That is my favorite one right now.

01:12:44.100 It's good.

01:12:44.440 For sure.

01:12:45.340 I think it's the best sandwich that we've ever, we've ever done.

01:12:47.980 I like the Frenchie a lot, but inspire brands got rid of it.

01:12:50.600 Did you have the little Frenchie?

01:12:51.720 Nope.

01:12:51.920 I never had, uh, nope.

01:12:53.020 I never had it.

01:12:53.660 I've always gotten the turkey tom except for the last couple of times I went, I got a club.

01:12:58.380 Um, Italian.

01:12:59.720 Yeah.

01:13:00.380 Italian nightclub.

01:13:01.180 Yeah.

01:13:01.560 Number nine.

01:13:02.080 So, but I, um, I've been a turkey tom guy my whole life, man.

01:13:05.500 I'm a real, I kind of stick with what works for me, you know, uh, so you're 40.

01:13:10.800 Yeah.

01:13:10.940 I'm 40 now.

01:13:11.580 You know, now that I re I'm just sitting here thinking Jimmy John's is part of your whole

01:13:14.920 life.

01:13:15.380 Oh, a hundred percent.

01:13:16.140 Jimmy John's was only part was half of my life.

01:13:19.500 I have a hard time with the obvious.

01:13:21.360 I just realized you were, you were grew up with it, dude.

01:13:24.280 It's crazy.

01:13:24.740 So if I'm a tourner, I'm in a different city and I, wherever I get the first thing on my

01:13:28.780 way into town, I will see if they have a Jimmy John's.

01:13:31.740 I'll just have them bring one right to the hotel.

01:13:33.180 So when I get there, I have a Jimmy John's man.

01:13:34.600 It's one thing that I do feel about Jimmy John's is it is as reliable of food that exists

01:13:42.540 out there.

01:13:43.500 I, every time it's going to be the same and it always gets there fast, man.

01:13:47.540 It's just there.

01:13:48.480 It's like, it really is.

01:13:50.240 It's just there.

01:13:50.680 The other shit, I don't know what's going to happen.

01:13:52.380 People, somebody might get shot on the way, deliver.

01:13:54.300 I have no idea.

01:13:55.220 But with Jimmy John's it's straight up.

01:13:57.060 Now I had, I actually got, I had, got a, I hooked up with Jared from Subway's sister

01:14:01.740 a long time ago in the French quarter.

01:14:03.040 This is a long time ago.

01:14:04.300 So I've had some, some unique interactions with some, you know, with some sandwich experiences

01:14:07.660 over my life.

01:14:08.180 But, um, and then I used to talk about Quiznos a lot of times.

01:14:11.680 Now Quiznos went under, right?

01:14:14.160 Yeah.

01:14:14.800 And here's why I think, and this just is a straight male, you know, Quiznos, I would go

01:14:19.960 into Quiznos, right?

01:14:21.200 And you get the toasted sandwich.

01:14:22.620 It's toasted, right?

01:14:23.500 Which I liked.

01:14:24.080 It's cool, you know?

01:14:25.720 But the problem with Quiznos was there was just men in there eating them.

01:14:29.360 So when you have a toasted sandwich and you're like bringing it up to your mouth and it has

01:14:33.840 like this kind of like this big open mouth kind of vibe and you're just sitting there,

01:14:37.560 there's other men in there, you're just looking at each other.

01:14:39.260 It had this extremely homoerotic vibe for me at Quiznos and I wouldn't, bro.

01:14:44.740 And I think I really believe that it hit a lot of them in that way.

01:14:47.040 And it, it just, it, it kind of made it too tough for me to go get Quiznos.

01:14:52.500 And sometimes the, the, it would burn my mouth.

01:14:55.120 It would like kind of chat me up a little bit and it just felt kind of homoerotic eating

01:14:59.840 those in there.

01:15:00.320 Cause it was only men in there.

01:15:01.540 I think they only really catered to men.

01:15:03.180 I have no idea.

01:15:05.460 I never, this first time I ever heard this in my life.

01:15:07.500 Oh, this is a big theory out there, but a lot of women won't go get a toasted sandwich.

01:15:11.200 It just, it's not.

01:15:12.520 You know who does a good toasted sandwich is Potbelly.

01:15:14.420 It's not dainty enough.

01:15:15.480 I like Potbelly.

01:15:16.040 They don't toast them too hard, right?

01:15:17.560 I like that.

01:15:18.740 But, um, but anyway, those are just some sandwich experiences that I've had.

01:15:22.760 But did you, uh, was there another sandwich place that you really enjoyed over the years

01:15:25.980 or another business that you watched grow over the years?

01:15:28.540 Yeah, I think that, uh, let's, what, what businesses, I think Pret-a-Mange does a great

01:15:33.100 job.

01:15:33.680 I'm not even familiar with them.

01:15:34.700 They're, they're London based.

01:15:35.920 McDonald's owned them.

01:15:36.780 And then they opened some stores in New York.

01:15:38.600 They do a really good job with sandwiches.

01:15:40.300 I think Portillo's hot dogs did a great job.

01:15:43.080 Portillo's is good.

01:15:43.740 They're out of Chicago, right?

01:15:44.420 Yeah, out of Chicago.

01:15:45.440 So my friend Dick Portillo, he sold about the same time, just about a year before I did.

01:15:49.780 So another, another great guy.

01:15:51.360 I love Portillo's a lot.

01:15:53.200 Um, what else do I respect a lot?

01:15:55.960 Um, I really respect Chick-fil-A.

01:15:58.540 How can you not respect Chick-fil-A?

01:16:00.700 So, I mean, what they do, I mean, my pleasure is getting a little old, but I respect it.

01:16:04.720 And that's what they do.

01:16:05.620 And it's what they say.

01:16:06.380 I guess Freaky Fast could be getting pretty old do, but, um, I think Chick-fil-A is incredible

01:16:10.880 respect.

01:16:11.400 I think McDonald's new quarter pounder with cheese with the fresh burger.

01:16:14.220 I think it's an incredible product.

01:16:15.900 I've had that yet.

01:16:16.600 Yeah.

01:16:16.720 They're using a fresh meat patty now.

01:16:18.440 Really?

01:16:18.600 It's really a big difference.

01:16:19.900 It's big time.

01:16:20.820 Yeah.

01:16:20.940 You ought to try it.

01:16:21.680 How can you not respect in and out?

01:16:23.560 I mean, it's kind of a grilled cheese sandwich flavored with vegetables and a little bit of meat patty,

01:16:27.480 but it's still pretty damn good.

01:16:28.960 And the price is really, really, really good.

01:16:30.920 Yeah.

01:16:31.560 Um, what else do I really respect a lot?

01:16:34.200 Was there a good brand that came through that didn't make it that you were like, man,

01:16:37.360 what happened here?

01:16:38.180 Because this thing was.

01:16:40.000 That didn't make it?

01:16:41.160 KFC.

01:16:41.640 I do not.

01:16:42.060 I don't.

01:16:43.160 I'm a Popeye's guy, you know, but.

01:16:44.940 I love Popeye's chicken sandwich.

01:16:46.760 Their chicken is just.

01:16:48.180 Bro, if they made a heroin, I would buy it.

01:16:50.440 It's so good.

01:16:51.720 Popeye's is good.

01:16:52.480 Bro, if Popeye's made a heroin, dude, I don't think America would exist anymore.

01:16:57.480 But yeah, there, there's just something about there.

01:16:59.720 Did you ever meet that guy?

01:17:00.820 Uh, what was Al Copeland?

01:17:02.080 Yeah.

01:17:02.300 Yeah.

01:17:02.600 And his son.

01:17:03.780 Really?

01:17:04.280 What was that?

01:17:04.780 Like, cause he, I'll tell you this.

01:17:05.820 So living, growing up in that area, he put the big Christmas lights up by the edge of

01:17:10.240 the lake and people would get pissed cause they had to drive their car by him.

01:17:13.480 And then like, people were like, I'm getting old.

01:17:15.080 I can't see the end of the bridge.

01:17:16.600 I don't drive.

01:17:17.020 So there was always, he was always this like flamboyant, like, uh, bigger than larger than life.

01:17:22.420 He was like, that was like my dad, but go ahead.

01:17:24.680 Back to Al Copeland.

01:17:25.640 Yeah.

01:17:25.760 He was just like that.

01:17:26.480 He was like larger than life.

01:17:27.880 Like the big Christmas lights and we're doing this and we got to, you know, you felt like

01:17:32.560 he had a cigar in his hand, even if he didn't have it in his hand, you know, he was just

01:17:36.260 larger than life.

01:17:37.420 He was.

01:17:37.860 He was.

01:17:38.080 I used to watch his offshore powerboat racing.

01:17:40.340 Remember he did that?

01:17:40.980 Do the cigarette boats.

01:17:41.800 He would take hot girls back and forth from our town over to New Orleans and then bring

01:17:45.960 them back like a month later.

01:17:47.780 A month later.

01:17:48.740 But I love that stuff so much.

01:17:50.040 And I ended up creating a, or being part of a offshore powerboat with the Jimmy John's

01:17:54.640 offshore powerboat.

01:17:55.140 And we won the world championship three years in a row.

01:17:57.520 And I, that was all inspired by that dude, Al Copeland.

01:17:59.880 I thought it was so cool.

01:18:01.120 I thought it was the coolest thing in the world, man.

01:18:03.360 And it was, uh, yeah, he was a hero.

01:18:05.340 Remember his sunglasses and his gold chains?

01:18:07.560 Oh yeah.

01:18:07.940 His big black hair.

01:18:09.080 Oh yeah.

01:18:09.760 He was killing it.

01:18:10.960 He, I, I don't know if he was Italian.

01:18:13.620 I don't know what he was.

01:18:14.740 Copeland.

01:18:15.280 I'm not sure.

01:18:16.180 He wanted to be Italian.

01:18:17.200 Yeah.

01:18:17.400 He wanted to be.

01:18:18.160 For sure.

01:18:18.720 Great call.

01:18:19.220 For sure.

01:18:19.460 Yeah.

01:18:19.680 He was a, he was the legend around our town, around our area growing up because he was

01:18:24.000 just, he bought this big place right when you got off of the Causeway Bridge in New

01:18:28.060 Orleans and they had, he put all of his boats in his truck.

01:18:31.920 Everything was big.

01:18:32.600 He put it just, it was in these big glass windows.

01:18:34.840 You could just see when you drove by for no real reason, but just to be like, Hey, this

01:18:38.560 is what I, you know, here's what's going on.

01:18:40.140 Here's my shit.

01:18:41.240 Yeah.

01:18:41.580 Yeah.

01:18:41.820 Yeah.

01:18:42.020 Um, did you, um, were there some, what are some other big entrepreneurial type guys?

01:18:47.000 I'm sure you, that's one thing that's probably happened that maybe you didn't even expect

01:18:49.700 is like you probably got to cross paths with just some amazing entrepreneurs over the

01:18:53.080 years.

01:18:53.380 You know what I have?

01:18:54.260 And you know, I'm, can I do a shout out to somebody?

01:18:56.280 Sure.

01:18:56.520 So it's 1987 and my father knew this guy named Jamie Coulter, who's a pizza hut operator

01:19:01.780 out of Wichita.

01:19:02.640 And my dad asked him, he, and he met him and my dad was in this YPO group I told you about.

01:19:07.500 And my dad asked Jamie to visit with me and talk me out of these dumb little sandwich shops

01:19:12.140 that I had.

01:19:12.620 I had three of them at the time or four of them at the time.

01:19:14.820 So I met Jamie Coulter and Jamie at 25 pizza hut stores.

01:19:18.580 I met him.

01:19:19.080 And at the time he made twice as much money at his pizza huts than the chain average.

01:19:23.140 And we're talking together and he called my dad and he said, uh, uh, big Jim, he says,

01:19:27.940 I'm sorry.

01:19:28.460 He said, your son believes in what he's doing here and I'm going to champion him and support

01:19:32.060 him because he believes in it and he can do it.

01:19:33.860 So Jamie Coulter ended up building those 25 pizzas to 125, sold them, created Lone Star

01:19:39.640 Steakhouse, created Sullivan's and then bought Del Frisco's.

01:19:43.420 And Jamie's been my, been, been my mentor since 1987 and he's now just turned 80 years

01:19:49.380 old and he is a young 80 and he is, he has coached me my entire life.

01:19:54.020 He's taught me, he's taught me how to, how to, how to tie a tie, how to, how to drink wine,

01:19:59.100 how to, how to, how to, how to talk to people, how to, how he, he's taught me about life.

01:20:03.280 He, he, he's, he's been a, he was a, he was with me.

01:20:06.020 So Jamie, I love you brother.

01:20:07.580 And he's an awesome, awesome dude.

01:20:09.680 And he and I are partners in a new brand that, that's called Seven Brew out of Northwest

01:20:15.300 Arkansas.

01:20:15.780 So we have nine little drive-through coffee shops and, and so he's my partner in that.

01:20:20.260 So that's a, that's a new venture that we're doing.

01:20:21.960 So Jamie Coulter.

01:20:23.060 And then I have met so many of the, of the great entrepreneurs in America.

01:20:28.060 I mean, I don't, I don't, you know, Dick Portillo from Portillo's Hot Dogs.

01:20:31.580 And, um, uh, I mean, I've, I've, I've, I've met the Koch family and I, I met, uh, uh, uh,

01:20:37.680 Henry Kravis from, you know, the KKR and George Roberts and from those guys and date James Coulter

01:20:43.280 from TPG and, and so many, I mean, it's endless how many entrepreneurs.

01:20:48.980 And then I, and then I was fortunate enough to, to be nominated to the Horatio Alger Association.

01:20:53.660 And you guys won it, right?

01:20:54.900 I won it two years ago.

01:20:56.020 And just in that, in that alone, I mean, it was, it's me, it's the CEO or the, the,

01:21:00.120 uh, Warren Buffett's right-hand guy.

01:21:02.080 It's, uh, Roger Penske's there, Peyton Manning, you know, it was just crazy company.

01:21:06.840 Oprah Winfrey, you know, it's like, whatever.

01:21:09.100 How did a sandwich guy get here?

01:21:10.720 Like, you know, are you a magician?

01:21:12.380 Are you a magician?

01:21:13.480 Yeah, maybe.

01:21:14.080 Do you find it hard to talk to some of those people in certain circles or is it not really?

01:21:17.940 Yeah.

01:21:18.240 What do you find?

01:21:18.860 Do you find, cause like, what are you gonna, I don't know what I would even say to.

01:21:21.200 Let me tell you something.

01:21:22.340 Yeah.

01:21:22.480 They are so refreshed by refreshed people that don't have an agenda.

01:21:26.640 I'm not, I'm not, I'm, I'm not beholden to anybody.

01:21:29.740 I don't have any debt.

01:21:30.820 I don't owe anybody anything.

01:21:32.500 I have everything I own is mine.

01:21:34.380 And, and I, and I'm always helped when I can be helpful.

01:21:36.840 I'm not virtuous, but I am just a, just a, just Jimmy.

01:21:39.920 And so when I talk to somebody, I think when you talk to them real, I think their guard goes

01:21:43.300 down.

01:21:43.680 And then I think they kind of want to peel off and like hang with you and say, you know,

01:21:47.020 Hey, what's up?

01:21:47.860 Hanging out.

01:21:48.500 What's up?

01:21:48.900 You know, what are you doing?

01:21:49.860 What's new?

01:21:50.320 And I, they, they are very endearing to me when I meet high level people.

01:21:55.620 Um, they, they're, I, I seem to be able to just talk to them and I talk just like this.

01:22:00.500 Yeah.

01:22:00.840 And I don't think that most people talk just straight up like this.

01:22:03.980 Right.

01:22:04.440 And, and I find that, uh, it's really, really easy to the, the more you are you, the more

01:22:10.480 they can be them.

01:22:11.420 And, and you, you, they realize you don't have an agenda and they just shine.

01:22:14.260 Yeah.

01:22:14.700 Yeah.

01:22:14.920 And I think that's with any human being, not, not wherever they are.

01:22:17.860 I think all human beings react to authenticity and genuineness and real man.

01:22:22.980 And that's all people want.

01:22:24.100 It's a fair shake.

01:22:25.040 Yeah.

01:22:26.060 Yeah.

01:22:26.420 There's something new about, uh, I think, especially in this day, in this age about vulnerability

01:22:30.780 and how that is becoming like a commodity, you know, or just being able to relate, you

01:22:37.640 know, or, Hey, I think vulnerability just saying, look, this is kind of where I'm at.

01:22:40.900 This is like some of my things that are going on.

01:22:43.200 And this is some way I can relate to you.

01:22:44.840 This is some way I think it's why podcasting has done so well because there's just more

01:22:49.620 of a conversation.

01:22:51.480 Um, like there were some, like I, I, part of me for a long time, wish that Bernie Sanders

01:22:56.080 and Donald Trump would have had to been on the same ticket because I felt like they were

01:22:59.980 such opposites, but it would be great to see such opposites on the, have to work together.

01:23:04.260 That is fascinating to then make a move forward.

01:23:07.060 Right.

01:23:07.600 How about that?

01:23:08.420 And I've always thought that maybe, why does the vice president just get to be the same?

01:23:11.360 Like, let's pick the, let's give an antithesis so that there's some real vitriol between

01:23:17.960 the two heads before they really make some choices.

01:23:20.560 But, um, boy, that is amazing that you, what, what a way to think that would have been

01:23:26.040 a fascinating team.

01:23:27.340 And you know what?

01:23:28.280 I think Bernie and president Trump might've really done a great job together.

01:23:31.880 I agree too, because I think Trump had an inability to kind of just, he just, he was

01:23:36.620 just a, you know, he's a great business guy, but his, I think he's just his, his way of

01:23:40.520 kind of speaking to the everyday person.

01:23:41.960 I don't know.

01:23:42.680 I don't know.

01:23:43.140 And I don't want to get into that, but, um, but talking to people that are, when you're

01:23:47.380 authentic, people dig it, dude, people, people dig when you're real and they know if you're

01:23:51.100 real, you're not real.

01:23:51.920 They know, right?

01:23:52.900 People tell if you really care, people know you care.

01:23:55.340 And if you care, people will talk to you and they'll respond as long as they're in a place

01:23:59.560 of, of being real.

01:24:01.040 And, you know, and I think that the, the people that are more present and living in, are those

01:24:04.620 other people you want to talk to anyway, those that are so caught up in this world of, of

01:24:08.860 electronics and all that, as much as they are the new, the word you told me, it's the new

01:24:12.780 fossil fuel.

01:24:13.700 Yeah.

01:24:13.840 Tech is the new fossil fuels.

01:24:15.000 Tech is the new, that's, that's my gem that I got from Theo today.

01:24:18.020 That is incredible.

01:24:18.960 So, you know, but I think when people are, are, are, are living real, they're, they, they

01:24:22.900 respond to real.

01:24:24.120 And I think that everybody at different times in their life has different, you know, they're

01:24:27.840 at different stages of their life.

01:24:29.000 So yeah, you have to be, not only do you have to be in front of something that's going

01:24:32.480 to affect you, but you have to be open to, there's only, that's the funny thing.

01:24:36.980 A hundred people can tell me the same thing, but it's that one moment where it just gets

01:24:40.360 through whatever the chasms are, the way they're lined up and where it really hits.

01:24:44.860 How'd you meet your second wife?

01:24:46.040 How'd that, how, how did that come out?

01:24:47.540 Leslie, you said her name was?

01:24:48.700 Yeah, Leslie.

01:24:49.220 So I was at McCormick Place and there was a, and my buddies have a beef jerky company

01:24:53.380 called Jack Link's Beef Jerky.

01:24:55.140 And it was from up in Northern Wisconsin where our camp is, where Bishop Gunn played, right?

01:24:58.860 And it's in Minong, Wisconsin.

01:25:00.120 So they were at McCormick Place and I had Bulls tickets.

01:25:02.700 I was living downtown Chicago and Michael Jordan was playing.

01:25:05.700 This was back in the, back, back in the late nineties.

01:25:08.500 The best time.

01:25:08.940 The best, dude.

01:25:09.860 I saw every single game, dude.

01:25:11.980 I was there.

01:25:12.440 Did you really?

01:25:13.160 Yes.

01:25:13.620 It went home, home in Chicago.

01:25:15.200 Yes, for sure.

01:25:16.080 And your, your, was your, you weren't, your brand wasn't doing good then?

01:25:19.200 No, you weren't.

01:25:19.860 Oh shit.

01:25:20.460 I had, well, I had like 17 or 18 stores in the late nineties.

01:25:24.400 I was, I had all those deposits.

01:25:25.900 Oh, I thought I was making money out of my company stores.

01:25:28.080 I was, I've been, I've had, I've been rich for a long time.

01:25:31.040 I thought it was later than that.

01:25:32.220 I thought, I didn't know that your business aligned, uh, your, some of your early success

01:25:35.360 aligned with, uh, when the Bulls were still playing.

01:25:37.000 Oh yeah.

01:25:37.820 Well, remember I had my company stores and even though the franchise stores, I had 76 failing

01:25:42.840 stores, I was still getting paid because they had to pay me a royalty.

01:25:46.560 I said, look, we're going to run out of fuel.

01:25:48.260 We need to stop this truck and we need to refuel it.

01:25:50.720 So they were two separate entities.

01:25:52.100 So my company stores always made money.

01:25:53.820 But so anyway, I'm at McCormick place to add a, at a, um, a grocery store show and the

01:25:58.480 link boys have their beef jerky booth and they're hustling jerky at their grocery store

01:26:03.480 show.

01:26:04.060 And so, and I said, and I had four Bulls tickets.

01:26:06.440 So I always kept two and sold two and it paid for my tickets.

01:26:08.940 Right.

01:26:09.340 So my buddy Jay says, he's listening.

01:26:11.620 He said, uh, we're going to the Bulls game.

01:26:12.740 He says, I got this girl that's working at Wells blue bunny ice cream booth right there

01:26:16.040 around the corner.

01:26:16.740 I want to take her to the Bulls game.

01:26:18.340 He said, you know, can I said, well, let's go check it out.

01:26:20.980 So we walk over there and this redheaded girl is there and, and with this blonde headed

01:26:26.680 girl that Jay was going to take and, and they were friends.

01:26:29.200 And I said, would you like to go to the Bulls game?

01:26:30.400 She says, yeah, but you know, just friends.

01:26:31.880 I said, for sure.

01:26:32.920 A hundred percent.

01:26:33.680 Just friends.

01:26:34.600 So we all four go to the Bulls game that night.

01:26:36.740 We went to the Bulls game.

01:26:37.000 Yeah, I'm not starting at lovers.

01:26:38.360 Yeah, that's right.

01:26:39.300 We went to the Bulls game and at the United Center, they sold these.

01:26:42.860 These Bob chins, my ties, and you could get an extra floater in there on the top for

01:26:47.220 an extra buck.

01:26:48.180 So by the second one, I was irresistible and I got the hand on my knee.

01:26:53.400 And so I was, I was just irresistible.

01:26:56.700 So that's funny shit, man.

01:27:00.620 So anyway, I got the hand on my knee and we went to Gallagher's in the corner of Racine

01:27:04.360 and, uh, Racine and Altgeld in Chicago to Gallagher's.

01:27:09.340 And we went to the bar after the Bulls game and walking back to my house, we totally made

01:27:13.120 out.

01:27:13.840 And, uh, and then she came back the next weekend for the restaurant show, which, and, and,

01:27:18.140 and she was doing the Wells Blue Bunny ice cream booth at the, at the restaurant show.

01:27:21.900 And were you at the, did you have a booth at the restaurant show or no?

01:27:24.160 No, no, no, not, not yet.

01:27:25.920 So I go, so I, I took her, I took her out Friday night and I said, listen, it's 10 o'clock.

01:27:31.440 I need you to take you back to your hotel.

01:27:32.840 Cause I just can't do this.

01:27:34.240 I, I, you've got a, a, a boyfriend and, and, and I, I just can't do this and I'm taking

01:27:39.180 back to your hotel.

01:27:39.820 So I drove her back to her hotel.

01:27:41.600 I called her at three o'clock in the morning.

01:27:43.240 I said, you up, I can't sleep.

01:27:44.680 I said, I'm coming to get you.

01:27:46.100 So I came to get her and that was, that was, and then she moved to Chicago a month later.

01:27:50.380 I asked her to move in with me.

01:27:51.920 She's like, dude, I'm not moving in with you.

01:27:53.740 And she had a, she had a four-year-old son and his name was Spencer and she was 22.

01:27:58.120 She had him as she was a freshman in college and had a child.

01:28:01.260 So she got, she got a job at WL.

01:28:02.700 What school did she go to?

01:28:03.900 She went to Southwest Missouri state.

01:28:06.160 Oh, you'll get a four-year-old there.

01:28:07.860 And you can get a four-year-old there.

01:28:09.660 She got a four-year-old there and I was lucky enough to adopt him.

01:28:12.800 So he's my oldest son.

01:28:14.060 Oh, that's cool.

01:28:14.500 But anyway, it just all worked out, man.

01:28:16.220 We got engaged the following Valentine's.

01:28:18.260 It's Leslie and we've been through it all.

01:28:19.640 We've been through everything that a couple can go through, dude.

01:28:22.340 We've been through it.

01:28:23.240 We earned it.

01:28:24.060 We love the shit out of each other and, uh, and we're rolling.

01:28:27.380 You know, we got this thing.

01:28:28.540 So that's my story and my love.

01:28:30.760 Dude, that's awesome, man.

01:28:32.720 So if you, uh, after, uh, let's go to this question real quick and then I'll ask one more

01:28:35.840 and we'll finish up.

01:28:36.500 What does this guy have here?

01:28:37.960 Thank you for calling, brother.

01:28:39.900 Hey, yo, Dio, Jimmy.

01:28:41.800 It's Dave from Louisville.

01:28:43.600 I just wanted to hear your guys' thoughts on this tattoo I've had for about 10 years now.

01:28:47.240 Shout out to Jimmy Johns on the sub hand.

01:28:50.940 Gang, gang.

01:28:51.920 Dude, gang, gang.

01:28:53.140 That rocks.

01:28:53.840 Nice work.

01:28:54.500 I guess that's a hand he eats his subs with, that left-handed sub eater.

01:28:57.400 I hope that's the hand he eats his subs with.

01:28:59.340 Yeah, me too, bro.

01:29:00.620 Who knows what else he's doing, man?

01:29:03.080 Uh, that's beautiful, man.

01:29:04.360 And actually, I feel like they could have done the artwork a little bit better if I'm really

01:29:07.380 going to be honest with them.

01:29:08.460 But at the same time, I totally respect it, man.

01:29:11.100 Right on, buddy.

01:29:12.140 Um, have you seen a lot of people over here that have done some weird things like that

01:29:14.880 for you?

01:29:15.220 Or not, and I'm not saying you're a weird brother, but are there people that have really

01:29:17.720 shown up with some tattoos and done some?

01:29:19.060 Buddy, I used to do a convention in Vegas every two years and we'd have three, four thousand

01:29:23.320 people at the, in Vegas at a convention.

01:29:25.460 And, and I, and we, I'd give away prizes and Rolexes and recognize great performers and

01:29:31.360 bring in rock stars.

01:29:32.400 Kid Rock would come play or Zach Brown would come play.

01:29:34.980 Bishop Gunn would come play.

01:29:36.420 And, and, uh, man, I saw some, I saw some big Jimmy John tattoos in some crazy places.

01:29:41.940 And, and I'm sure that they're sorry that they put those JJs where they put them because

01:29:47.020 I saw some shit, dude.

01:29:48.640 Yeah.

01:29:48.900 I've seen a lot.

01:29:49.980 I've seen a lot.

01:29:51.160 Anyway, it is what it is.

01:29:52.560 You've seen some stuff that's not on the menu.

01:29:54.100 I've seen some stuff that's not on the menu for sure.

01:29:57.460 Um, all right, let's take one more here and then I'll hit you with a question and we'll

01:30:00.140 finish up.

01:30:01.160 What's up, Theo?

01:30:01.780 What's up, Jimmy?

01:30:02.500 Hey, buddy.

01:30:02.960 So my question for you is what's the craziest customer experience that you've ever had?

01:30:07.700 Um, I think mine would be when I worked at Jimmy John's in downtown Wilmington.

01:30:12.120 Um, it was the first night me and my manager, you know, working there till three, four in

01:30:15.980 the morning.

01:30:16.620 We got those bar drunk people coming in and one guy had ordered and he comes back up and he

01:30:21.380 goes, Hey man, I think some, uh, naked guy just came in through the back and went upstairs

01:30:26.360 and I'm like, are you serious?

01:30:28.400 He's like, yeah.

01:30:29.360 And, uh, so I go get my manager and next thing you know, he goes upstairs and he's bringing

01:30:33.140 out some naked guy and I'm like, what is going on?

01:30:36.800 Subs are making people crazy.

01:30:39.740 Hey man, free smells, dog.

01:30:41.820 Right on.

01:30:42.900 Um, did you ever have any wildness like that?

01:30:45.260 I'm sure you do right there and, uh, and, uh, you're anything that stands out, buddy,

01:30:48.680 there, there has been so much wildness that I have seen 36 years on college campuses with

01:30:54.080 sub sandwiches, buddy.

01:30:55.280 I've seen porn on the internet done in Jimmy John's bathrooms and that, which has been nicely

01:31:01.180 emailed to me.

01:31:02.380 Uh, uh, I have seen, I have seen, I have seen stuff I've seen.

01:31:07.980 I mean, I don't know where to go with it.

01:31:09.440 It's, it's overwhelming.

01:31:11.260 Uh, I think it's just human nature.

01:31:13.000 I don't think it's Jimmy John's.

01:31:14.400 I think that you mix alcohol and late night and, and people, I think that people just

01:31:19.140 like, like you said, turn into raccoons and they start doing, you know, they start crawling

01:31:22.600 around and doing weird shit.

01:31:24.940 Oh, you'll find your fucking cousin in the recycling bin, dude.

01:31:27.760 If you fucking, if there's enough drugs and booze around.

01:31:30.540 Yes, sir.

01:31:31.480 Um, what about, uh, what about, so in life, you know, you've, I feel like for me, I noticed

01:31:39.140 in my life, there's like a, I found like an, uh, like I, in the past two years,

01:31:43.000 I've started to make a little bit of money in my life and I never had any money and money

01:31:46.380 was always, and I think in a lot of people's lives, it's always, it's a goal.

01:31:50.680 It's a motivator.

01:31:51.620 It's a, and I don't know if it was my motivator.

01:31:54.280 I think some type of a success was maybe my motivator and I've achieved some success.

01:31:58.200 Hell yeah.

01:31:58.500 But I felt like it's not as, there really isn't, it's not as joyous as you would, it

01:32:07.820 doesn't pay off really exactly like you've kind of, I, for me, it hasn't paid off exactly

01:32:12.980 like I felt, like I felt like it would.

01:32:15.180 Like you thought it would.

01:32:15.960 Yes.

01:32:16.260 It's not what you thought it would be.

01:32:17.680 Right.

01:32:17.780 Let me tell you, so I'm 16 years, I'm 56, you're 40, right?

01:32:20.820 Yeah.

01:32:21.320 So here's, here's, happiness is hard work, brother.

01:32:24.160 And it's, it's, it's hard to make it.

01:32:25.700 It's five times harder to hold onto it.

01:32:27.340 That's number one thing with money.

01:32:28.920 Okay.

01:32:29.580 It's five times harder to hold onto it.

01:32:31.860 Number two, money doesn't bring you happiness.

01:32:33.880 You want to be happy.

01:32:34.960 You got to watch your sugar.

01:32:36.060 You got to drink a lot of water.

01:32:37.220 You got to exercise in the morning.

01:32:38.820 You got to keep your house in order, keep your life in order.

01:32:41.300 And you want to, and I have to hang around people that I aspire to be like or want to be

01:32:45.780 like because it rubs off on me.

01:32:47.520 You got to have a presence of discipline.

01:32:49.300 You got to have a presence of balance.

01:32:51.040 And, and you got to have a little bit of fun and you got to forgive yourself for being

01:32:54.480 human when you over season your steak, which we happen to do once in a while as human beings.

01:32:58.780 And you can take that any way you want to take it and forgive yourself so you can get

01:33:02.380 back on the track of happiness and happiness is hard work, man.

01:33:07.100 It is, it is, it is.

01:33:08.660 I'm a, I'm a, I'm obviously a billionaire, right?

01:33:11.360 And, uh, uh, but you know, you can have, you can have 10 cars and, and 10 boats and 10 houses

01:33:18.320 and you can, you can, you can eat yourself three chocolate cakes and six Big Macs and

01:33:23.080 six Jimmy John subs and you're going to feel like shit.

01:33:26.060 Okay.

01:33:26.620 And it's going to be horrible and you're going to be a one horrible rich motherfucker.

01:33:30.060 Okay.

01:33:30.960 And so really happiness is hard work.

01:33:33.620 So, and genuine, genuine happiness.

01:33:35.340 I mean, real, not baloney bullshit, you know, right.

01:33:38.580 You party, that's fine, but real contentment, happiness, man, it's hard work and it takes

01:33:43.180 work every single day to do that.

01:33:45.620 And when you do it, you know, when you do it every day or have a presence of it and

01:33:48.720 then you have better weeks and then you have better months and you have better quarters

01:33:52.020 and then you have better years.

01:33:53.240 You know, I wish I would have known this 10 years ago.

01:33:55.720 I'm learning this now since I don't have all that, the pressure of Jimmy John's.

01:33:59.620 So I'm learning this stuff now.

01:34:00.980 And this is for me.

01:34:02.080 I don't know what's for you, but this, this is the wine I like to drink.

01:34:05.480 I'm not going to tell you what kind of wine you like to drink, but this is, you know,

01:34:08.620 I had a wine class one time I paid $200.

01:34:11.020 He says, okay, you're ready for the class.

01:34:13.000 Good wine is wine.

01:34:14.060 You like great class over.

01:34:15.600 Let's drink.

01:34:16.280 Wow.

01:34:16.620 So I'm like, thanks man.

01:34:19.160 What's all that shit they're doing in the restaurant?

01:34:20.660 He says, that's all bullshit.

01:34:21.520 They're making all that stuff up because I felt so stupid with wine, right?

01:34:25.220 Now I own a couple of wineries and we do very well, but that's besides the point.

01:34:29.740 So, you know, it's, it's whatever it is to you.

01:34:31.700 But for what I found is, you know, I've been rich for a long time and, uh, in my, in my

01:34:36.200 world, uh, rich for a long time.

01:34:37.880 And, and, uh, I made my first million dollars in 93 and had no debt, you know?

01:34:42.820 So having no debt is huge, huge.

01:34:44.800 I didn't know how to get it.

01:34:45.820 I didn't know how to fill out the paperwork.

01:34:47.380 Well, it's funny.

01:34:47.820 Your dad said that, you know?

01:34:49.260 Yeah.

01:34:49.900 Yeah.

01:34:50.180 And those bankruptcies scared me and I was poor and I didn't ever want to be poor again.

01:34:54.600 And, uh, so I was a real saver and still am a very conservative.

01:34:58.420 I only invest in things that I totally understand, you know, or a person that I totally understand.

01:35:03.820 I, I really tend to bet the jockey, not the horse.

01:35:07.420 Interesting, man.

01:35:08.100 Yeah.

01:35:08.320 So that's the list people.

01:35:10.180 The list is if you want to, uh, if you want to have happiness in your life, I feel like

01:35:16.260 you started off by making a list of the things you needed in your kitchen.

01:35:20.520 And I feel like you kind of ended up by giving us a list of your experience of the things

01:35:25.620 that we need if we want to, you know, have some sort of happiness, you know?

01:35:29.240 Um, is that your, is that, do you feel like that's where you're, a lot of your motivation

01:35:34.620 is spent now kind of these days?

01:35:36.140 Like finding, uh, just feeling good, finding some happiness?

01:35:39.300 A hundred percent.

01:35:40.080 I think contentment, Theo, I think that, um, you know, um, private planes are convenient,

01:35:46.900 but you can be miserable in a private plane, you know, all those, all those perceived, you

01:35:51.400 know, Kardashian amenities, right.

01:35:53.140 Or, or whatever Hollywood amenities, all those things are great, but, but to feel good, you

01:35:57.140 got to feel good.

01:35:58.040 And, uh, and it's hard work to feel good.

01:35:59.980 And so I'm filling in a lot of, a lot of gaps that I, that I wasn't able to do because

01:36:04.660 I was fighting the battle for 36 years and I was just overwhelmed at the end.

01:36:08.780 It was just so big.

01:36:10.040 And so I was, I was like drinking through a fire hose and now, you know, really being

01:36:14.460 addressed my weight, my health, and really every single day through this, thanks, this,

01:36:19.200 this hunting season and Thanksgiving and Christmas and, and really trying to balance myself, man.

01:36:24.260 Uh, I've done a better job this year than I've ever done in my life.

01:36:26.980 Like this is, this is my, the best life that I've ever lived.

01:36:30.200 And I'm in a great direction.

01:36:31.360 And I think a year from now, if we had a podcast, I think you'll see me 20 or 30 pounds lighter.

01:36:35.800 And, and, um, and it's just what I'm doing right now.

01:36:38.760 And it feels good.

01:36:39.900 It feels good to sleep good.

01:36:41.600 It feels good, man.

01:36:43.120 It feels really shitty when I drink a bottle or two of tequila, which I did last week with,

01:36:47.720 uh, with Bobby and, and, uh, and Clint Boyer, we went hunting deer in Texas and we drank a

01:36:52.340 lot of tequila, man.

01:36:53.280 And, and man, I paid the price for three to three days.

01:36:56.220 I mean, hangovers at my age are, are a week now.

01:36:58.540 It's almost not worth it.

01:36:59.760 Yeah.

01:37:00.060 Oh, hangover, your stock will dip, you know, you know, um, so anyway, yeah, man, I just

01:37:06.360 see, you know, a little peace and contentment and relationships with my kids and, and, uh,

01:37:10.580 just moved to Franklin, Tennessee and, and June.

01:37:13.160 And I love it here.

01:37:14.000 Congratulations.

01:37:14.560 It's like old America here.

01:37:15.980 It's, uh, the neighbors, we, we, we, we, we get to our house.

01:37:18.800 We're at our house three days.

01:37:19.620 The neighbors bring over a fire pit made out of iron that a local guy welded and, and eight

01:37:25.020 Adirondacks chairs and a stack of wood and set it up and brought a cooler, a beer and said,

01:37:28.880 welcome to the neighborhood lit a fire.

01:37:30.860 I mean, this, where I live, I live in America, man, this is America where people love each

01:37:35.280 other and help each other and look after each other.

01:37:37.580 And that's how I felt coming here to Nashville and, and, and Franklin.

01:37:40.860 And it's just, it is, it's an awesome place.

01:37:43.840 And, um, yeah, I'm going to bring my whole, um, bring everything down here.

01:37:47.260 And so, uh, yeah, we're, we're definitely dipping our toe in it for sure.

01:37:50.660 And seeing what that feels like.

01:37:51.660 We wanted to kind of make this like a, have a different option.

01:37:54.320 You know, we had a mortician come on from Kentucky and he was like one of our best guests

01:37:57.860 ever.

01:37:58.100 Oh, he said, look, bro.

01:37:59.880 He said, if you kill somebody, man, kill him in like kind of a rural area, because a lot

01:38:03.620 of times it goes straight from the policeman to the mortician.

01:38:07.140 So there's not a lot of interior detective work.

01:38:10.040 So if you can trick that first policeman into thinking, oh, this is a natural cause, dude,

01:38:14.680 it's straight to the mortician and it's straight to the ovens, bro.

01:38:18.180 You know, that guy's making a different kind of bread, but you know, uh, but anyway, so just

01:38:23.220 some of the things we had, um, a female trucker on.

01:38:25.660 That was a really amazing episode.

01:38:26.940 We're just trying to get back into just like people that are hardworking people that, uh,

01:38:31.480 you know, just capturing a strong bit of a sense of America that still left, you know?

01:38:36.300 Absolutely.

01:38:37.020 Absolutely.

01:38:37.420 Do you believe that entrepreneurial spirit in the American dream is still alive?

01:38:40.560 You know what I do?

01:38:41.880 I think it is still alive.

01:38:43.300 I think that, um, I think that there were some unintended consequences of some decisions

01:38:47.620 that were made by some people that didn't run businesses, but made business decisions.

01:38:52.420 And I, I believe everybody deserves happiness, right?

01:38:55.560 But I think happiness is hard work, right?

01:38:57.580 So when, for example, the minimum wage, you raise the minimum wage to 15 bucks.

01:39:01.960 Okay.

01:39:02.420 And then you, and then you throw COVID on top of it.

01:39:04.920 Every small mom and pop business in America is done.

01:39:07.580 And so they wanted to make sure that the small guy could make a living wage at 15 bucks

01:39:12.100 an hour.

01:39:12.680 Their hearts were in the right place.

01:39:14.420 Beautiful.

01:39:15.080 Thank you.

01:39:15.640 You know, so such a virtuous thinking, but look, who's got all the money now.

01:39:18.880 Jeff Bezos got all the money and everyone.

01:39:21.160 And then every time one of these little mom and pop shops is selling on Amazon, as soon

01:39:24.720 as it reaches a certain level, Amazon just knocks it off.

01:39:27.500 And then there's something, the mom and pop shop is gone.

01:39:30.160 So it was the minimum wage, really a good thing.

01:39:32.900 Well, the, it was a good idea, but the function, I mean, wait till you see what happens

01:39:36.900 after COVID, Theo.

01:39:38.360 So there, there's some, there's some, there's some, you know, I think the entrepreneur spirit

01:39:42.380 is alive.

01:39:43.260 And I think that, that, that it's going to be there always, you know, as long as everything

01:39:49.040 is fair and we're playing with the same set of rules and elections are fair and it's real

01:39:53.120 and, and that everybody, you know, has to play with the same set of rules.

01:39:57.060 As soon as there's two sets of rules, that's when there's going to be problems.

01:40:00.100 So we need to get back to, you know, we need to, you know, fences make good neighbors.

01:40:04.480 We need, we need to have the same set of rules, I think.

01:40:06.560 So, so I believe that.

01:40:08.560 Do you feel like someone could, that, that, what will happen to entrepreneurs after we

01:40:12.380 come out of COVID?

01:40:12.900 Do you think there's going to be a good opportunity for people that want to start something?

01:40:17.040 Absolutely.

01:40:17.660 I think there's going to be a huge opportunity.

01:40:19.160 You know, the opportunity, Theo, the opportunity is also in the trades, man, the electricians

01:40:23.980 and plumbers and construction workers and the real and the pipe that these guys, the

01:40:27.980 opportunity in that stuff is going to be astronomical.

01:40:30.360 It's because things, no matter what, things have got to get built.

01:40:33.520 Right.

01:40:33.640 So I think, I think that the wage and that stuff is going to be up, up north of a hundred

01:40:36.780 bucks an hour.

01:40:37.520 So I think that's huge.

01:40:38.880 I think that, that, that entrepreneurs that haven't got their ass kicked really hard and,

01:40:43.080 and, and, and, and, and, and, and aren't licking their wounds, they're going to be ready

01:40:46.200 to go.

01:40:47.000 You know, I'm jumping back into this new coffee business and I'm really excited about it.

01:40:50.720 Seven, that's what it's called?

01:40:51.560 Seven Brew.

01:40:52.380 Seven Brew.

01:40:53.320 Keep my, keep my, you said Northwest Arkansas, they just started?

01:40:55.700 Yeah.

01:40:56.020 Yes.

01:40:56.180 So do you guys want to support a Jimmy John brand or it's Inspire Brands?

01:40:59.540 Or is it just?

01:41:00.320 Well, Inspire Brands is Jimmy John's.

01:41:02.100 Seven Brew is myself and Jamie Coulter, my mentor and a couple of buddies.

01:41:05.420 That's cool, man.

01:41:06.160 That is cool.

01:41:06.800 So yeah, the entrepreneurship's alive.

01:41:08.540 Absolutely.

01:41:09.040 It's alive.

01:41:09.440 Look what you're doing.

01:41:10.160 Look, I'm here, dude.

01:41:11.120 I know.

01:41:11.500 Look, this is, this is amazing.

01:41:12.800 Look, it feels good.

01:41:13.740 It feels good.

01:41:13.980 It's so funny.

01:41:14.720 All the, the dream guests that we've wanted over the years, we've had three of them and,

01:41:18.940 and they've all happened now, which is really interesting.

01:41:21.320 Wow.

01:41:21.520 It's interesting.

01:41:22.240 But you're right though.

01:41:23.040 And, and no, it's just good to hear from you because I feel like you've been through, it's just

01:41:27.080 like you said, you have to get burned in a few leases to know if the lease is good.

01:41:30.020 Like you've been through the burned leases to be able to look at the rest of us and say,

01:41:33.580 Hey guys, things, you know, it just, it hits us in the spirit.

01:41:36.460 Like you can still do this, you know?

01:41:38.500 You can.

01:41:39.060 So you can, um, Jimmy John, thank you so much, man.

01:41:43.380 This is, uh, this has been awesome, man.

01:41:45.060 And, and, um, I appreciate you being here and we'll have to go, go, uh, do some fishing

01:41:48.700 sometime or something.

01:41:49.580 I'd love to do that.

01:41:50.320 It's really a pleasure to be here and a real honor to be here.

01:41:53.680 My kids think you're a rockstar and you are, you're a real humble, smart, witty, uh, guy.

01:41:58.700 And I appreciate your interest in, in having me here.

01:42:01.420 I really do.

01:42:02.280 It did.

01:42:02.600 I've never done this before.

01:42:03.820 So, uh, uh, thank you very much.

01:42:06.040 You bet, man.

01:42:06.800 And we'll, uh, when Bishop Gunn gets back together, we'll go to one of their shows.

01:42:09.480 Let's do it.

01:42:10.000 Now, I'm just floating on the breeze and I feel I'm falling like these leaves.

01:42:15.660 I must be cornerstone.

01:42:20.900 Oh, but when I reach that ground, I'll share this peace of mind I found.

01:42:26.280 I can feel it in my bones.

01:42:30.620 But it's gonna take a little time for me to set that parking brake.

01:42:39.300 And let myself on my eyes.

01:42:43.060 Shine that light on me.

01:42:48.280 I'll sit and tell you my stories.

01:42:53.640 Shine on me.

01:42:58.040 And I will find a song.

01:43:01.240 I will sing it just for you.

01:43:04.380 And now I've been moving way too fast.

01:43:11.940 On the runaway train with a heavy load of my past.

01:43:19.480 And these roads that I've been riding on.

01:43:22.740 They're worn so thin that they're damn near gone.

01:43:25.240 I guess now they just weren't built.

01:43:27.600 Ladies and gentlemen, I'm Jonathan Kite and welcome to Kite Club.

01:43:32.260 A podcast where I'll be sharing thoughts on things like current events, stand-up stories, and seven ways to pleasure your partner.

01:43:40.040 The answer may shock you.

01:43:41.780 Sometimes I'll interview my friends.

01:43:43.840 Sometimes I won't.

01:43:45.360 And as always, I'll be joined by the voices in my head.

01:43:48.420 You have three new voice messages.

01:43:51.060 A lot of people are talking about Kite Club.

01:43:54.360 I've been talking about Kite Club for so long.

01:43:57.040 Longer than anybody else.

01:43:58.720 So great.

01:44:00.040 Hi.

01:44:00.680 Sweetie.

01:44:01.640 Easy deal.

01:44:02.980 Anyone who doesn't listen to Kite Club is a dodgy bloody wanker.

01:44:06.960 Jermaine.

01:44:07.540 I'll take a quarter pounder with cheese and a McFlurry.

01:44:12.020 Sorry, sir, but our ice cream machine is broken.

01:44:14.120 Oh, no.

01:44:16.400 I think Tom Hanks just butt-dialed me.

01:44:18.840 Anyway, first rule of Kite Club is, tell everyone about Kite Club.

01:44:23.000 Second rule of Kite Club is, tell everyone about Kite Club.

01:44:27.240 Third rule, like and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts or watch us on YouTube, yeah?

01:44:33.020 And yes, don't worry, my Brad Pitt impression will get better.

This Past Weekend with Theo Von - December 23, 2020

E314 Jimmy John Liautaud

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