From Dumpster Diving to Fitness Empire

Entrepreneur

Overcoming adversity: Bedros Keuilian's inspiring journey from Armenia to the United States showcases the power of determination and resilience.

Transcript

00:00:00 And dude, we're living in Section 8 housing, eating out of dumpsters because there's not enough food stamps for us to get us through the month.

00:00:07 My dad has like multiple jobs, like that's how we made it through the first year and a half, two years of this country, man.

00:00:14 Wow, it looks like you had a chip on your shoulder.

00:00:17 I did. And sometimes it's okay to have a chip on your shoulder.

00:00:19 Sometimes you're going to be successful because you want to spite someone, because you just want to show them that you can, because they said that you couldn't.

00:00:26 That's okay. That doesn't mean you have to be a spiteful person.

00:00:29 [Music]

00:00:37 Pre-COVID, we're gaining about an average of nine locations a month.

00:00:42 Just to give you an idea, starting March of 2020 to March of 2021, in that 12 month period, we gained a total of six.

00:00:52 We went from nine a month to a total of six, and we lost 218.

00:00:56 If that doesn't create a butthole pucker factor, bro, I don't know what does.

00:01:00 We turned that corner and made it happen.

00:01:02 And that's when I realized I can be a wartime.

00:01:05 I'm a good wartime leader.

00:01:07 I didn't just have a 10 year, 15 year run with a rabbit's foot up my ass.

00:01:11 I know how to lead a team during the worst of times.

00:01:15 And it was a good feeling, man.

00:01:17 Yeah.

00:01:18 Welcome to the show, Bedros.

00:01:20 Thanks, brother. Thanks for having me.

00:01:21 I'm finally glad we got to put this together and have you down here at our studio and get into this because you are one of the guests I've been looking forward to for so long, just because your background, you didn't come from an eclectic background with a whole bunch of opportunity at your doorstep.

00:01:36 Correct.

00:01:37 You didn't just hit a home run with your first venture, but you've built quite an empire, both personally and now you're giving back in so many ways to help inspire the next generation.

00:01:45 That to have you here is, it's an honor for me.

00:01:47 It's an honor for our audience and I think you're going to provide so much value.

00:01:50 So thank you.

00:01:51 Thanks, man.

00:01:51 I appreciate that.

00:01:52 And as you gave us the tour of the whole building and your studio, first class all the way.

00:01:56 Well, to quote a quote on our wall, which you'll sign later, Drew Brees has a saying that he put up there, which is how you do anything is how you do everything.

00:02:03 And while I didn't use it phrased that way, it means so much.

00:02:07 And I think that's part of how you become successful by focusing on the small things.

00:02:11 Fact.

00:02:12 And we like to deliver that internally and actually eat our own dog food and be the example that we talk about.

00:02:18 So thank you for noticing.

00:02:19 Yes, sir.

00:02:20 That's always great.

00:02:21 But I want to start actually for our audience, because most people probably know you, the you today with the personal brand, Fit Body Bootcamp, your coaching, even the new masterminds that you're doing with Dan Fleischman and helping that group.

00:02:34 But for those who maybe don't understand your background, you immigrated here at six years old.

00:02:39 Yeah, yeah. Immigrated from Armenia, which was at the time part of the Soviet Union.

00:02:43 My dad, interestingly enough, was a member of the Communist Party, not by choice, even though they give you a choice.

00:02:49 In 1974, the year I was born, they asked him if he wanted to be a member.

00:02:53 Of course, if you say no, they ship you off to Siberia and never to be seen again.

00:02:57 He said yes.

00:02:58 And so but he despised communism.

00:03:01 And so this red passport that you get when you're part of the Communist Party, he put in a drawer, never used it, lived like a regular citizen.

00:03:09 But because of he had connections and access, he was able to make some side money in Armenia and bribe some officials in the Soviet government to allow us to escape into Italy.

00:03:23 And then from Rome, Italy on June 16, 1980, we immigrated legally into the United States.

00:03:32 Where did you land in the US?

00:03:34 Southern California.

00:03:35 My dad had one friend of a friend who he knew in America.

00:03:39 So in Rome, Italy, we went to the American consulate.

00:03:42 They pumped my dad for information for 10 days because he was a member of the Communist Party.

00:03:46 And, you know, they said, all right, where do you want to go in the US?

00:03:50 He goes, California, Southern California, because I have a friend of a friend.

00:03:55 And that friend of a friend let us stay.

00:03:57 He had a two bedroom apartment.

00:03:59 He and his wife had one room.

00:04:02 And then he gave us for 30 days, he gave us one of those bedrooms for a family of five.

00:04:09 So me, my brother, my older sister, my mom and dad stayed in one bedroom for 30 days.

00:04:14 He said, after that, you guys were on your own, which was great.

00:04:17 By that point, we went into a section eight housing, government assisted housing out here

00:04:22 and, you know, lived off food stamps.

00:04:25 And that story is interesting because you are told by your mom and dad when you're a kid,

00:04:31 I'm the baby of the family, right?

00:04:33 So my older brother was 19.

00:04:34 My sister was 21 when we came here.

00:04:36 When you were six.

00:04:37 I was six, yeah.

00:04:38 Oh.

00:04:38 Yeah.

00:04:39 I was the oops baby in the family.

00:04:40 So, you know, you're told like, all right, we're leaving Armenia.

00:04:44 We're, you know, and I liked Italy.

00:04:46 Rome was beautiful.

00:04:47 I ate my first banana in Italy and I was like, oh, this is fucking delicious.

00:04:50 Right.

00:04:51 And we're like, we're going to an even better place.

00:04:53 I'm like, where?

00:04:54 They're like America.

00:04:55 And you know, they, the way they described it was store shelves are never going to be

00:04:59 empty again because that's what we would see in Armenia in a communist country.

00:05:02 Like there's no snow where we're going to, there's none of this stuff.

00:05:06 And so we get here and dude, we're living in section eight housing, eating out of

00:05:10 dumpsters because there's not enough food stamps for us to get us through the month.

00:05:15 My dad has like multiple jobs, like passing out newspapers, pumping gas at a gas station.

00:05:21 They found this, that the grocery stores would throw away food that was expired, but not

00:05:27 necessarily gone bad yet.

00:05:29 Being the smallest one in the family, my dad would lift me up into those blue dumpsters

00:05:33 and I'd fish out expired bread, expired cheese, expired ham.

00:05:37 And we'd take it home.

00:05:39 My mom would give it the smell test.

00:05:41 She's like, it's good to go.

00:05:42 And you ate it.

00:05:43 And we ate it.

00:05:44 That's, that's how we made it through the first year and a half, two years of this

00:05:48 country, man.

00:05:49 Wow.

00:05:49 And what was the, what was the turning point for your family at that phase?

00:05:52 Like, how did it go from that to how did you get out of that sphere?

00:05:56 Because that's a sphere that I think traps a lot of immigrants.

00:05:58 Yeah.

00:05:59 So my dad was a tailor in Armenia and you know, in a communist country, everybody

00:06:04 works for the government.

00:06:05 So all the businesses belong to the government for the most part.

00:06:07 And he was a tailor.

00:06:08 So he's like, all right, I'm going to go to America.

00:06:10 I'm going to be an entrepreneur.

00:06:11 He knew that.

00:06:13 Yeah.

00:06:14 And so.

00:06:15 Did he even know what entrepreneurship was?

00:06:16 He knew he wanted his own business and that in the United States you can do that.

00:06:19 Okay.

00:06:20 I remember Jeff, I remember my dad listening to the Beach Boys, to Elvis.

00:06:25 He had Ray-Ban sunglasses, Jordache jeans, Adidas shoes in Armenia.

00:06:32 Again, being a member of the communist party, he had access to clothes that were

00:06:36 Westernized clothes, Western music.

00:06:38 The guy was like an American through and through.

00:06:40 Uh-huh.

00:06:41 Living in a communist country, almost like he was born in the wrong country.

00:06:44 And so he's like, I'm getting the hell out of here.

00:06:46 And so he studied a lot about the United States.

00:06:48 Did he speak English when he arrived?

00:06:50 No.

00:06:51 Not a word.

00:06:52 Not a word.

00:06:53 None of us, none of us.

00:06:54 So I was in ESL, English as a second language.

00:06:56 My brother, my sister, my mom and dad took ESL.

00:06:59 And back then I think the local junior colleges offered it for free, elementary

00:07:03 school offered it.

00:07:04 So.

00:07:05 And to young entrepreneurs listening and young adults listening, back in the 80s,

00:07:10 there was no YouTube.

00:07:11 No.

00:07:12 There was no internet.

00:07:13 No, there was no Rosetta Stone.

00:07:14 There was Encyclopedia Britannica maybe.

00:07:16 Yeah.

00:07:17 And whatever information you can get from a neighbor.

00:07:19 Yeah.

00:07:20 And we didn't have access to Encyclopedia Britannica.

00:07:21 Right.

00:07:22 Because we're living in section eight housing.

00:07:23 So, but man, it was an interesting upbringing

00:07:26 because you're told one thing that this is what

00:07:28 the United States is going to be like.

00:07:30 But then for that year and a half, two years,

00:07:33 we're living in different section eight housing complexes.

00:07:35 One of them was so filthy.

00:07:37 In fact, my room had lice in it and I got lice.

00:07:41 At that time we, still my mom and dad were

00:07:44 counting the pennies so they couldn't afford

00:07:46 to buy lice treatment.

00:07:47 My mom had my dad siphon out gasoline from a

00:07:49 park car and she washed my hair with gasoline.

00:07:52 Didn't that burn your scalp?

00:07:53 Uh-uh.

00:07:54 No.

00:07:55 Wow.

00:07:56 No.

00:07:57 And I remember in Armenia, she was telling

00:07:58 me, keep your eyes closed, stay doubled over.

00:08:00 She washed my hair with gasoline and then she

00:08:02 rinsed it out with water.

00:08:03 But that saved us, whatever, I don't know,

00:08:06 two, three bucks, whatever it costs for a lice

00:08:08 treatment, but that's how tight our budget was.

00:08:11 But my dad saved every penny he could and he

00:08:14 bought a little tailor shop in Anaheim,

00:08:17 California from this degenerate gambler.

00:08:21 And he had gambled away so much money that he

00:08:24 lost his store, was in the process of losing

00:08:26 his little tailor shop.

00:08:27 And my dad bought it from him.

00:08:29 It turns out the guy had a bad reputation.

00:08:31 So my dad bought a business that was in the

00:08:33 deficit, but 13 hours a day, six days a week,

00:08:36 that business ended up getting him a house,

00:08:39 one rental property, paid off a lot of the debt

00:08:43 that we had acquired.

00:08:44 Yeah.

00:08:45 Yeah, yeah.

00:08:46 He managed his money well and he taught us

00:08:47 entrepreneurship.

00:08:48 In that process, your brother and sister being

00:08:50 already over the age of 18, did they stay with

00:08:53 the Nucleus family for a long time or did they

00:08:56 end up branching off to try to seek opportunity?

00:08:58 They ended up branching off pretty quick.

00:09:00 I think within the first three years, my dad

00:09:02 was like, I got to get this girl married.

00:09:04 I mean, like at the end of the day, well, one

00:09:06 of the Armenian culture, people marry early,

00:09:08 especially like your daughter, you don't want

00:09:10 her to be long in the tooth.

00:09:12 That's not how I see it today, just for the

00:09:15 record, I don't need people reaching out to you

00:09:17 and me telling me that's, you know, but the

00:09:19 reality is.

00:09:20 But it was a different time in 1980s.

00:09:21 Yeah, yeah.

00:09:22 And he's like, hey, if she can find a good

00:09:24 husband, a good Armenian husband out here, it's

00:09:27 one less mouth I got to feed, right?

00:09:29 I mean, the man's worried about that.

00:09:31 My brother went on to, you know, like paint

00:09:34 homes and stuff with a friend.

00:09:36 He met a friend and he did that, but yeah, the

00:09:40 older brother and older sister did everything

00:09:41 they could to be less of a burden as quickly as

00:09:44 possible.

00:09:45 And as a young kid going through this, did you

00:09:48 develop even a little bit of like a victim

00:09:50 mindset, a jealous mindset of your peers that

00:09:53 you were seeing in the schools that maybe

00:09:55 didn't have the same rough upbringing, didn't

00:09:58 have the same challenges that your family was

00:10:00 going through, or did you even have the ability

00:10:02 to understand that?

00:10:03 Yeah, it wasn't such a victim mindset and, or

00:10:07 a jealous mindset.

00:10:08 What it was though is, you know, I said, my

00:10:11 dad had three jobs.

00:10:12 He worked at a gas station, he had a paper route

00:10:14 like at two in the morning.

00:10:15 And then this other third job that he had was

00:10:18 he worked at a pizzeria in the back.

00:10:21 And like, we're talking about getting paid

00:10:23 below minimum wage, like under the table cash,

00:10:25 cause we hadn't gotten our green card yet.

00:10:27 We were in the process of getting our green

00:10:29 card.

00:10:30 And so he got my sister a job there too as a

00:10:34 waitress.

00:10:36 And the guy that owned that little pizzeria was

00:10:42 very suggestive with my sister, was very foul

00:10:45 with my sister, was sometimes a little too

00:10:48 hands-on with my sister.

00:10:50 And my sister would come home crying like two,

00:10:52 three times a week telling my dad, like, this

00:10:54 guy's a jerk, this guy's an asshole.

00:10:56 And my dad's like, I know this, but if you just

00:10:58 stick it out for another month, right?

00:11:00 Now when you're six years old, you see your

00:11:02 older brother out there doing multiple jobs,

00:11:04 your sister going to ESL and having multiple

00:11:08 jobs, your dad multiple jobs.

00:11:10 What I did feel was helpless and that I wanted

00:11:14 to do something, right?

00:11:15 At this point now I'm like going on seven years

00:11:17 old and I remember one day my sister was just

00:11:20 like, I can't do it, I can't work there anymore.

00:11:22 And I went up to her and I think this was just

00:11:24 as I look back now and having worked with a

00:11:27 therapist about all this shit, I look back, I

00:11:30 wanted to help her some way and I said, when I'm

00:11:35 older, I'm going to make so much money you'll

00:11:38 never have to work again.

00:11:39 In my little dude brain, I'm thinking that's

00:11:42 going to solve her problem now.

00:11:43 - Right.

00:11:44 - I had another 15, 20 years to go, right?

00:11:46 Before I made any decent money.

00:11:48 But the good news is she's been working for me

00:11:51 the last 15 years from home, makes a very good

00:11:56 salary and does pretty much nothing.

00:11:58 - So that dream that you had, that vision

00:12:01 actually materialized into reality.

00:12:03 - Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:12:04 - And it probably stuck with you throughout

00:12:05 your whole childhood.

00:12:06 - Yeah, it did.

00:12:07 And that became my thing.

00:12:09 Like when things got tough, why do I want to

00:12:12 be an entrepreneur?

00:12:13 Because I got to make a lot of money because

00:12:14 I made a promise to my sister when I was six

00:12:16 and a half, seven years old.

00:12:18 So sometimes people go, wow, it looks like

00:12:21 you had a chip on your shoulder.

00:12:22 I did.

00:12:23 And sometimes it's okay to have a chip on your

00:12:24 shoulder.

00:12:25 Sometimes you're going to be successful because

00:12:26 you want to spite someone, because you just want

00:12:28 to show them that you can because they said

00:12:30 that you couldn't.

00:12:31 That's okay.

00:12:32 That doesn't mean you have to be a spiteful

00:12:33 person.

00:12:34 But it does mean that if God gave us all these

00:12:37 different emotions, happiness, greed, you know,

00:12:44 obsession, anger, rage, love, these are tools

00:12:50 in a toolbox.

00:12:51 And sometimes, like during the pandemic, I used

00:12:54 a lot of anger and rage to push my businesses

00:12:57 forward because I was so upset with the

00:12:59 government and what they were doing to humanity.

00:13:01 Does that mean that I'm an angry and upset

00:13:03 person organically in life?

00:13:05 No, not necessarily, but it's a tool that I

00:13:07 needed at the time.

00:13:08 Well, controlling emotion is the success

00:13:11 factor there, right?

00:13:12 Because having emotion and recognizing how to

00:13:14 use it effectively, it's when you allow your

00:13:16 emotion to control you, things go way out of whack.

00:13:19 Correct.

00:13:20 No matter, even a good emotion like love.

00:13:21 Correct.

00:13:22 People do crazy things for love.

00:13:23 Right.

00:13:24 Murder.

00:13:25 They will murder for love.

00:13:26 They will murder for love.

00:13:27 Yeah.

00:13:28 They will do crazy things with anger.

00:13:29 But if you can control it.

00:13:30 Yeah.

00:13:31 You can apply that pressure and that power,

00:13:33 that chip to something positive.

00:13:35 And I think our mutual friend, Tim Grover,

00:13:37 who was on this show in his book Relentless,

00:13:40 talks about that.

00:13:41 He told Dwayne Wade that if you can take this

00:13:45 anger and rage that you have and you can

00:13:48 control it and bring it to that court for those

00:13:50 48 minutes, you will be a champion instead of

00:13:53 constantly sitting in the foul box.

00:13:55 Right?

00:13:56 So it's a great example of like a, someone

00:13:58 who's like an amazing trainer and coach to the

00:14:00 biggest pro athletes on the planet.

00:14:02 And when I read that, I was like, dude, that's

00:14:04 exactly it.

00:14:05 Like if, as long as you, you can weaponize

00:14:09 your rage, your anger, love, whatever emotion

00:14:12 and keep it under control, you can produce a

00:14:13 massive outcome.

00:14:14 Same with dreams.

00:14:15 And this is, I think, where a lot of people

00:14:18 struggle.

00:14:19 They have great dreams, but they live in their

00:14:21 dream instead of figuring out how to make that.

00:14:23 Like that kid that you were when your dream

00:14:25 was to make enough money to help your sister.

00:14:27 You said, I'm going to be an entrepreneur.

00:14:28 I'm going to go make a lot of money.

00:14:29 You built a plan to execute that dream.

00:14:31 And I think that that's another one that we

00:14:33 fall victim as a society to not controlling.

00:14:36 It's great to have dreams, but dreams without

00:14:39 action is nothing.

00:14:40 It's a hope.

00:14:41 And that's not a strategy.

00:14:43 Hope is never a strategy.

00:14:44 - Hope is not a strategy.

00:14:45 Well said.

00:14:46 So it wasn't always just easy for you, though.

00:14:49 You didn't just magically become this successful

00:14:51 entrepreneur because your first venture was

00:14:53 a supplement company.

00:14:54 - Yeah.

00:14:55 Yeah, my first venture was TotalMuscle.com

00:14:57 back in 1997.

00:15:00 I think Al Gore had just duct taped the wires

00:15:02 together and made the internet.

00:15:04 I mean, he says he created the internet, so we

00:15:06 have to believe him, right?

00:15:07 - The intranet, I think.

00:15:08 - The intranet, yeah.

00:15:09 But in 1997, I started TotalMuscle.com,

00:15:12 had a website made.

00:15:14 I'm going to tell you a funny story about this.

00:15:17 So you remember AOL dial-up, right?

00:15:21 - Of course.

00:15:22 The sound is, you answer the phone.

00:15:24 - The screeching sound.

00:15:25 - Oh, God.

00:15:26 - Yeah.

00:15:27 - You just kicked me off of the interwebs, right?

00:15:30 And so I had AOL.

00:15:31 I'd get those disks that had like 1,500 free

00:15:34 hours of internet.

00:15:35 So I'd log on, and I had my username to AOL.

00:15:39 And back then, you could search all people that

00:15:43 are on AOL, on America Online, and say, for

00:15:46 example, show me all men who are between this

00:15:49 age group that are into weightlifting or

00:15:51 bodybuilding or fitness.

00:15:53 And so we're talking '97, bro.

00:15:57 I would find them.

00:15:58 AOL would go, "Here's all these guys."

00:16:00 I'd email one at a time, cut and paste an email

00:16:04 that I'd written, basically, "Hey, man, I work

00:16:06 out, I live too.

00:16:07 Why buy supplements at a store where they kind

00:16:10 of raise the prices because they have to pay

00:16:12 for rent and all this stuff?

00:16:13 I just ship out directly to you, and you can

00:16:15 save a lot more money.

00:16:16 Here's the link, TotalMuscle.com," and then

00:16:18 next email.

00:16:19 And my goal was, I worked at Disneyland back

00:16:21 then, and I was a busboy.

00:16:23 My goal was to send out 250 emails every night.

00:16:26 And then the hope was I would wake up to an

00:16:29 order or two, right?

00:16:31 And so one of my first, not first, probably

00:16:35 second or third order, was like this $1,500

00:16:39 order, just to give you an idea.

00:16:40 - Which is a lot.

00:16:41 - Back then, right?

00:16:42 And remember, there was no Google, there's no

00:16:44 Facebook to advertise, and so like that's it.

00:16:47 There's no email marketing, like Marpost or

00:16:49 ActiveCampaign to send out a broadcast.

00:16:51 I'm cutting and pasting and like changing their

00:16:53 name and putting their name in it.

00:16:54 - And I think it's just important to specify,

00:16:56 no one's behavior was to even check email

00:16:58 regularly.

00:16:59 - No.

00:17:00 - Like this was a new novel thing.

00:17:01 - Yeah, novel.

00:17:02 It was a novelty.

00:17:03 - It was.

00:17:04 - People were saying the internet's going to go away.

00:17:05 - Yeah, like why would you send an email?

00:17:06 - Right.

00:17:07 - I remember my mom saying that to me when I

00:17:08 was like, "Hey mom, have you built an email

00:17:09 address yet?"

00:17:10 And she's like, "Why would I send an email?"

00:17:12 - Paper lasts.

00:17:13 - Yeah.

00:17:14 - What is this?

00:17:15 - Yeah, it was just like foreign.

00:17:16 - And so I think like order number one was like

00:17:19 a $48 thing of protein and creatine, and then

00:17:22 order number two was like, whatever, 25 bucks

00:17:24 of whatever.

00:17:25 And then order number three, $1,500, right?

00:17:27 I'll never forget, it was an address in Texas

00:17:29 that it was shipping to.

00:17:32 The address for the credit card was like

00:17:35 somewhere like in Utah or Idaho, one of those.

00:17:38 And dude, I wanted to pride myself, like I'm

00:17:40 going to box this thing up first thing in the

00:17:42 morning, I'm going to drive it to UPS, ship it

00:17:44 out, and they're going to be blown away how

00:17:46 quickly they get this thing, and then I'm going

00:17:48 to go to Disneyland and work, right?

00:17:50 So as soon as the order comes in, like in the

00:17:52 middle of the night, first thing in the morning,

00:17:54 I'm packing it up, like $1,500, like I'm rich

00:17:56 now, I'm rich.

00:17:57 I go to UPS, send it out, about two weeks go

00:18:01 by, there's a charge back.

00:18:04 And turns out that was a stolen credit card.

00:18:06 There was no AVS, address verification service,

00:18:08 and any of this whole like, you know, where they

00:18:10 text you on Shopify and you enter the code and

00:18:12 you, okay, you are who you are, you say you are.

00:18:15 And so I sent out, so my cost would have been

00:18:18 probably about, if it was a $1,500 order,

00:18:20 probably a $900 worth of supplements.

00:18:23 So my margins there would have been about

00:18:25 600 bucks, I lost it all.

00:18:27 And I had to give the 1,500 bucks away that I

00:18:29 didn't have.

00:18:30 And I realized like that put me, that was it,

00:18:33 it was over.

00:18:34 Total muscle was dead.

00:18:35 And I fucking supplements expire, bro.

00:18:38 So you can't send out old supplements.

00:18:41 So between turnover and, you know, random

00:18:44 chargebacks, I was like, this is a broken

00:18:46 business model.

00:18:47 I'm done with it.

00:18:48 But I wasn't done with the internet or being an

00:18:50 entrepreneur, just that first business model

00:18:52 was God awful.

00:18:53 How did you even find a place to co-pack or

00:18:56 manufacture supplements without the internet to

00:18:58 find the co-packers or the, or manufacture

00:19:00 supplements?

00:19:01 I didn't do all, it was all brand name

00:19:02 supplement, designer protein, like isopure.

00:19:04 Okay.

00:19:05 So it wasn't your own.

00:19:06 No, no.

00:19:07 I was buying it from Europa.

00:19:08 Yeah.

00:19:09 The same distributors that supplement

00:19:12 companies or supplement stores would buy it from.

00:19:14 The difference is I was storing it in my mom's

00:19:17 bedroom, like in my spare bedroom, right?

00:19:19 And so I didn't have a, what do you call it?

00:19:22 A lease to pay.

00:19:23 I didn't have employees to pay out, that was it.

00:19:25 And so to me, it made sense that I can sell the

00:19:27 same designer brands for less.

00:19:29 I just didn't get enough volume and there wasn't

00:19:32 enough technology to, you know, keep the credit

00:19:35 card numbers safe and accurate.

00:19:37 So 1997, it died.

00:19:39 Correct.

00:19:40 The same year it was built and you're still

00:19:42 working at Disneyland.

00:19:43 Do you remember what you were making at

00:19:44 Disneyland at the time?

00:19:45 13.50 an hour as a busboy.

00:19:47 Oh, that's really good actually.

00:19:48 Disney paid well, bro.

00:19:49 Yeah, I was going to say, wow, I was.

00:19:50 And I had stock options, up to 5% of my check

00:19:53 could go towards Disney stock and I had maxed

00:19:55 that out.

00:19:56 I was working at Pazzo's Pizza in 1997, making

00:19:58 5.75 an hour.

00:19:59 Holy crap.

00:20:00 Which was minimum wage.

00:20:01 Minimum wage.

00:20:02 Plus tips.

00:20:03 Sure, sure.

00:20:04 But I remember because to go into a movie was

00:20:06 5.25 and I remember I could take, with two

00:20:08 hours of work, I could take my girlfriend to a movie.

00:20:10 There you go.

00:20:11 That's how I still remember what I made.

00:20:13 Isn't that funny how the math we do as young

00:20:14 men is like, what can I get her for this?

00:20:16 I know I have Friday night coming, do I make enough?

00:20:18 Right.

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00:20:41 positive difference in your community.

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00:21:12 Now, let's get after those goals.

00:21:14 What happened next?

00:21:15 You stayed at Disneyland for a while.

00:21:16 Yeah, stayed at Disneyland for a while,

00:21:18 started thinking that, all right, let me try

00:21:20 my hand at working as a personal trainer at a gym.

00:21:24 Like, I know I like fitness, it's my thing,

00:21:26 let me work as a personal trainer in the gym.

00:21:28 That's when I decided that I was going to open

00:21:30 up some gyms.

00:21:31 Actually, one of my personal training clients,

00:21:33 Jim Franco, was like, how much are you making

00:21:36 at this LA Fitness?

00:21:37 I was working at Disneyland and LA Fitness.

00:21:41 You got the certification to be the personal trainer?

00:21:43 Yeah, got ACE certified, and actually they're

00:21:45 located right out here in San Diego, ACE,

00:21:47 American Council on Exercise, and you know,

00:21:49 you study the book, you go take the test,

00:21:51 and that's that.

00:21:52 Today it's probably all online, but Jim Franco

00:21:55 was one of my four personal training clients.

00:21:58 I would complain to him that it's so hard

00:22:00 to sell these personal training packages,

00:22:02 and when I do, I get 10% commission,

00:22:04 plus $12 an hour that LA Fitness would pay me.

00:22:08 The gym would get majority of that money.

00:22:10 And so, Jim Franco, my personal training client,

00:22:13 was like, well, why don't you open up your own

00:22:15 personal training studio?

00:22:16 I'm like, man, I don't know how.

00:22:17 I want to be an entrepreneur, but I tried

00:22:18 the supplement thing online, it didn't work.

00:22:21 He goes, if you can find a 3,000, 4,000

00:22:24 square foot facility, I'll help you

00:22:26 with your first location.

00:22:28 I'll loan you 50 grand, be your 50% business

00:22:32 partner, and you'll pay me back at 8%.

00:22:36 Knowing what I know now, I would have never

00:22:37 taken those terms.

00:22:38 Well, back then, 8% was actually not terrible.

00:22:41 It wasn't terrible.

00:22:42 It's not terrible in today's environment

00:22:43 either, unfortunately.

00:22:44 But the problem was, after paying him back,

00:22:46 he still, my 50% business partner.

00:22:48 It's definitely shark tank.

00:22:49 He shark tanked me, which was great.

00:22:51 I love the guy.

00:22:52 Like, he's been like my rich dad, right?

00:22:53 Poor dad, rich dad.

00:22:54 And so I said, sure, fine, fantastic, let's do this.

00:22:57 And he helped me open up my first gym,

00:22:59 actually, right here off the 78.

00:23:02 I used to live in San Marcos, California

00:23:04 at the time, and right here off the 78.

00:23:06 And it was successful.

00:23:10 My best lead generation strategies were

00:23:13 lead boxes inside of all fast food restaurants.

00:23:16 Because I figured out very quickly, when I

00:23:18 put these lead boxes in health food restaurants.

00:23:20 What's a lead box?

00:23:21 So great question.

00:23:23 If you're like 40 and older, you might remember

00:23:25 a lead box, I don't know if they have them

00:23:27 in stores now, but you walk into a store,

00:23:28 it's a little box sitting on a counter for

00:23:30 another business that says, you know, when one

00:23:34 week of free personal training, just put your

00:23:37 name, email address, phone number, and you want

00:23:41 to lose weight, gain weight, or other.

00:23:43 And then they would fill out.

00:23:44 And it's a form they fill out.

00:23:45 I do remember, it's the acrylic thing, it had

00:23:46 the little pencil and you fill out the paper

00:23:48 and you fold it and stick it in.

00:23:49 Yes, yes.

00:23:50 That's what a lead box is.

00:23:51 Lead box.

00:23:52 I'm 40 exactly, so I remember.

00:23:53 Okay, okay.

00:23:54 I didn't know what it was called.

00:23:55 Yeah, yeah, that's called a lead box, right?

00:23:56 And so, and so at first I put all these lead

00:23:58 boxes out, maybe like 20 lead boxes in health

00:24:00 food stores, came back a week later to check.

00:24:02 It's almost like fishing, you put all these

00:24:03 poles in the water and you come back and check.

00:24:05 Okay, well, it was like two leads in each box

00:24:09 and they're not even that good.

00:24:11 Like these are all healthy people, right?

00:24:13 And I realized I know what I need to do.

00:24:15 I need to put it into unhealthy restaurants.

00:24:17 Like people go and eat burgers and tacos and

00:24:19 fried fish tacos and whatever, they feel guilty.

00:24:21 Bro, when I put it, put the lead boxes in

00:24:24 unhealthy places and I think from out of guilt,

00:24:27 they're ordering pizza, but they're going to,

00:24:29 I'm going to apply for personal, free personal

00:24:30 training.

00:24:32 My leads like quintupled, like it was just

00:24:35 bananas how many leads I was getting.

00:24:37 Some of those leads were stupid.

00:24:38 Like, you know, it says check off if you want

00:24:40 to lose weight, gain muscle or other, the other

00:24:43 would do like, I want a bigger penis, right?

00:24:45 So whatever, about half the leads were just stupid.

00:24:47 Sure.

00:24:48 But the other half were legit.

00:24:50 And I would call and say, Hey, you know what?

00:24:52 You got a free week.

00:24:53 That means you get three free personal training

00:24:54 sessions.

00:24:55 So everybody won the free week.

00:24:57 And then on the strength of that three personal

00:25:00 training sessions, we would sell them a six or

00:25:03 12 month package, anywhere from two, three or

00:25:05 four times a week program.

00:25:07 And once I had nailed down that process, now it

00:25:09 was time to scale.

00:25:10 That was my first experience in scaling.

00:25:12 So I said, Hey Jim, I think I'm doing well here.

00:25:15 I'm going to open up location two.

00:25:16 He's like, do you need a partner?

00:25:17 I'm like, nope.

00:25:18 I got this right.

00:25:19 So he was my business partner in premier

00:25:21 results.

00:25:22 My, at the time that was the name of my

00:25:23 gym's out here.

00:25:24 And that opened up location two.

00:25:25 Where was location two?

00:25:26 Location two was Kearney Mesa.

00:25:28 Okay.

00:25:29 Location three was Murrieta.

00:25:31 So off the 15 going the other way, right?

00:25:33 Location four was, sorry, we had, I lived in San

00:25:41 Marcos, Escondido and then Vista.

00:25:44 And so it kind of had the 78 covered on both

00:25:47 ends and this worked out really well.

00:25:50 Yeah.

00:25:51 It was all one-on-one personal training, 30

00:25:52 minute sessions.

00:25:53 And you were hiring trainers.

00:25:54 I was hiring trainers.

00:25:55 Yeah.

00:25:56 They weren't paying me rent.

00:25:57 I would do exactly what LA Fitness was doing to me.

00:25:58 Yep.

00:25:59 I had a manager in every location doing sales

00:26:01 and the personal trainers would deliver the

00:26:03 results.

00:26:04 And then if they can resell Jeff on a six month

00:26:09 package, cause they were really good.

00:26:10 Now they'll get a commission.

00:26:11 Yep.

00:26:12 Right?

00:26:13 And then they'll get a commission.

00:26:14 Otherwise they're getting an hourly and that

00:26:15 was that every location had 10 to 15 personal

00:26:17 trainers.

00:26:18 And there we went.

00:26:19 And then a brand called Crunch Fitness that

00:26:22 wasn't that popular back then was coming through

00:26:25 San Diego.

00:26:26 Now I got to tell you something like this is

00:26:28 again for entrepreneurs back then, the early

00:26:32 late nineties, early two thousands personal

00:26:34 training was sold by one session at a time, five

00:26:37 session blocks.

00:26:38 You're a baller.

00:26:39 If you can sell a client 10 sessions and then

00:26:41 they're going to use it how they want.

00:26:43 Right?

00:26:44 Well, I learned from LA Fitness that I can sell

00:26:47 a six month membership three times a week, four

00:26:50 times a week, 12 months.

00:26:51 And so I did that.

00:26:52 The only reason Crunch Fitness was interested

00:26:54 in buying me out was not because of our brand

00:26:57 that we had built in San Diego, our receivables.

00:27:00 Those subscriptions.

00:27:01 The subscriptions.

00:27:02 Right?

00:27:03 Exactly.

00:27:04 And so Jim Franco, when I told Jim Franco, like

00:27:06 Jim, this company is coming through and they

00:27:08 want to buy us out.

00:27:09 He's like, no kidding.

00:27:10 Right?

00:27:11 He goes, that's because your business has legs.

00:27:13 And I'd never heard that term before.

00:27:14 I go, what do you mean legs?

00:27:15 He goes, you can sell once and collect money over

00:27:17 and over again until that term runs out.

00:27:19 And he owned a software company.

00:27:20 So he was very familiar with that.

00:27:22 Yeah.

00:27:23 And dude, once I realized the value of

00:27:25 recurring revenue and subscription.

00:27:27 Now nine, eight of my nine companies are all

00:27:32 subscription based.

00:27:33 Because of the legs.

00:27:34 Yeah.

00:27:35 That's got legs.

00:27:36 And you took a business that didn't

00:27:37 traditionally have subscription and implemented it.

00:27:40 Yeah.

00:27:41 And everybody said this never worked in the

00:27:42 personal training industry.

00:27:43 I went from 60 minute workouts to 30 minute

00:27:46 sessions, still charging 60 minute prices.

00:27:49 Right?

00:27:50 And when clients would have indigestion about it,

00:27:51 I'd say, look, we just give you the same results

00:27:53 in half the time.

00:27:54 So you win 30 minutes back.

00:27:55 And that was the script I had taught.

00:27:56 That's actually, it's a good line.

00:27:57 Right?

00:27:58 Yeah.

00:27:59 Like who doesn't want more time back?

00:28:00 So we're charging.

00:28:01 It's like four minute abs.

00:28:02 Four minute.

00:28:03 You know, if you can give it to me in four

00:28:04 minutes, I want it.

00:28:05 Right.

00:28:06 Four minute abs.

00:28:07 And so that worked out well.

00:28:08 Subscription worked out well.

00:28:11 And the industry, in fact, I applied to speak

00:28:15 at the NSCA.

00:28:16 NSCA is another certification organization.

00:28:18 NSCA conference.

00:28:21 And they sent me a rejection letter.

00:28:24 And I had applied to speak on business

00:28:26 development for personal trainers.

00:28:27 And they're like, gotta talk about posterior

00:28:29 chain.

00:28:30 You gotta talk about like knee mobility.

00:28:32 Like we're all well educated on this stuff.

00:28:35 And we're all broke personal trainers that

00:28:36 have three other side jobs.

00:28:38 Like I figured out how to make money as a

00:28:40 personal trainer.

00:28:41 Like a lot of it.

00:28:42 Right?

00:28:43 They rejected my request to speak.

00:28:45 So then I applied at the IDEA World Conference,

00:28:48 which is also based out of San Diego.

00:28:50 I forget what IDEA stands for, but it's the

00:28:52 Fitness World Conference.

00:28:53 Again, they reject me.

00:28:55 I apply for the URSA.

00:28:58 You know, it's a health club thing.

00:29:00 Right?

00:29:01 I'm like, surely health clubs, they have

00:29:02 personal training departments inside.

00:29:03 They're gonna want to know this.

00:29:05 They rejected me.

00:29:06 So there's something beautiful about just

00:29:09 beating your own path.

00:29:10 Going from 60-minute sessions to 30-minute

00:29:12 sessions.

00:29:13 Going from, you know, small blocks of training

00:29:15 packages to like selling subscriptions.

00:29:17 I've always gone against what majority has

00:29:19 said, was this is how we do things in the

00:29:22 industry.

00:29:23 It's like, I'm gonna try something different.

00:29:25 - Fresh eyes and disruption.

00:29:27 - Yes.

00:29:28 Bro, once I got rejected three times, I'm

00:29:30 like, okay, they obviously don't want personal

00:29:31 trainers to be successful.

00:29:32 They just want you to know where the muscle

00:29:33 inserts originates and the ATP system and how

00:29:36 creatine functions in your body.

00:29:38 I don't give a fuck about how much money you

00:29:39 make.

00:29:40 So I created this event called Fitness

00:29:41 Business Summit.

00:29:42 And my whole copy was, I'm assuming you're a

00:29:45 really good personal trainer, you've been

00:29:46 certified through all these different

00:29:47 organizations, you keep getting certified

00:29:49 thinking this one more certification is gonna

00:29:50 make you rich and teach you how to get more

00:29:53 clients.

00:29:54 It's not.

00:29:55 You're just over-certified, but you're

00:29:56 under-educated as an entrepreneur.

00:29:57 Fitness Business Summit assumes that you're

00:29:59 great at what you do, you just don't know how

00:30:00 to market, sell, scale.

00:30:01 And I'm gonna teach you that.

00:30:02 Within three years, I had 1500 attendees

00:30:06 come into this.

00:30:07 - Wow.

00:30:08 What would it cost me as a trainer to come?

00:30:10 - I wasn't smart enough to have different

00:30:12 levels of selling seats.

00:30:15 I think the first FBS in 2007 was 199 bucks.

00:30:22 And then it scaled to like 450 bucks at its

00:30:24 peak.

00:30:25 I ran that for 11 years.

00:30:26 - And what's great is, whether you realize

00:30:28 it or not, you're also building a community.

00:30:30 - I had no idea.

00:30:31 Yeah.

00:30:32 And I was building a community.

00:30:33 - You were building a community.

00:30:34 - Before social media.

00:30:35 - Yeah.

00:30:36 - Before community building was a thing.

00:30:37 - And a brand.

00:30:38 - And a brand.

00:30:39 Your own personal brand, but also the summit.

00:30:42 - Yeah.

00:30:43 And I had no idea.

00:30:45 Later, Idea wanted to buy the summit.

00:30:48 How funny that, right?

00:30:49 They were like, you gotta come and speak at

00:30:51 our event.

00:30:52 I'm like, aren't you the guys, the one that

00:30:53 sent me this paper letter of rejection, right?

00:30:56 We couldn't get the deal, so we couldn't agree

00:30:59 on the pricing and the terms, and so I didn't

00:31:01 sell them Fitness Business Summit.

00:31:02 But, dude, I built a personal brand, and later

00:31:06 the people that would come to Fitness Business

00:31:08 Summit ended up being my early adopters of Fit

00:31:11 Body Bootcamp of our franchise.

00:31:13 - And what was the transition from your gym,

00:31:15 your original gyms to Fit Body Bootcamp?

00:31:18 - So once I sold Premier Results.

00:31:20 - You did end up selling it to Crunch.

00:31:22 - Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:31:23 Yeah, once I sold the Fit Body Premier Results,

00:31:26 by this point now we're talking like early

00:31:28 2003, 2004, and I realized, okay, I can do

00:31:33 coaching and consulting for personal trainers.

00:31:35 So I was now a coach and a consultant.

00:31:37 I started my coaching and consulting experience

00:31:39 early, 'cause I'd just built and sold five gyms.

00:31:42 And I also realized that as I'm doing the

00:31:48 coaching and consulting, this is awesome,

00:31:50 but I have nothing that I can sell.

00:31:53 I liked how it felt to sell something, to build

00:31:57 and sell something.

00:31:58 But as a consultant, like you're it.

00:32:00 You can't sell it.

00:32:01 - You're selling your time.

00:32:02 - Yeah, and so the whole time I'm like, wait,

00:32:04 what, I gotta sell something.

00:32:05 I gotta build something to sell.

00:32:06 Well, the housing market crashes in 2008.

00:32:09 All my coaching clients were dudes and dudettes

00:32:12 that owned gyms, three to 4,000 square foot

00:32:15 gyms, did one-on-one personal training like I

00:32:17 did, and I was teaching them how to build and

00:32:19 scale and have multiple locations and go to an exit.

00:32:22 But if you remember back then, there was boot

00:32:25 camps that were taking place in the parks, and

00:32:27 personal trainers always looked at boot camps

00:32:29 like the redheaded stepchild, right?

00:32:31 Like it's called personal training for a reason.

00:32:33 I can't tell you how many personal trainers

00:32:34 have told me that.

00:32:35 It's called personal training for a reason.

00:32:36 And I'm like, let me tell you something.

00:32:38 A pro NFL coach can take a Super Bowl winning

00:32:41 team and train them in a group.

00:32:43 You're telling me we can't take fat little

00:32:45 Mrs. Jones, who's like, doesn't know how to

00:32:48 eat right, is sucking down 1,200 calories from

00:32:50 Starbucks, and we can't train her in a group

00:32:53 environment, yet these pro athletes can?

00:32:56 Right.

00:32:57 Personal training is a broken model.

00:32:59 The housing market had crashed in 2008.

00:33:01 All of a sudden, all those gym owners lost

00:33:04 like half their clients.

00:33:06 That means I lost them as my coaching clients.

00:33:08 I'm like, holy shit, I'm not about to go live

00:33:10 on my parents' couch with my wife and kids, right?

00:33:13 And so I'm like, what if I take this outdoor

00:33:15 boot camp, bring it indoors, and now we do

00:33:17 group training, and we make the cost of

00:33:20 personal training more affordable and convenient.

00:33:22 Because now Mrs.

00:33:23 Jones and 20 other Mrs.

00:33:24 Joneses can work out at 5 a.m.

00:33:26 Instead of just, oh, sorry, the 5 a.m.

00:33:28 time is taken by Mrs.

00:33:29 Jones, Mrs.

00:33:30 Smith, you gotta do 5.30, right?

00:33:32 So I made personal training more affordable

00:33:34 and convenient, and I did it by opening up my

00:33:36 first location in a gymnastic school, because

00:33:39 they're empty in the mornings.

00:33:41 Yeah.

00:33:42 Kids don't go to gymnastics until after

00:33:43 school, and they have that carpet bonded foam,

00:33:46 which we were just talking about earlier.

00:33:47 In fact, till today, Fit Body Boot Camp has

00:33:50 carpet bonded foam, the same carpet bonded foam

00:33:53 you'll find in gymnastics centers, and that's

00:33:54 our nod to our heritage, where we come from.

00:33:57 Because that's where I started.

00:33:59 And I was like, hey, can I pay you guys

00:34:00 five grand a month to use your gymnastics center?

00:34:03 I'm going to bring some battle ropes, I'm

00:34:04 going to put some TRXs on the wall, but it's

00:34:06 not going to be intrusive to what you guys are

00:34:08 doing, bring some dumbbells in these plastic

00:34:10 crates, and I'll just shove them all in the

00:34:12 corner.

00:34:13 They go, yeah, sure, pay us five grand.

00:34:14 Like it's a whole.

00:34:15 Yeah, it's a whole run for them.

00:34:16 Yeah.

00:34:17 They're monetizing a window of time that

00:34:18 they couldn't before.

00:34:19 Bro, within like two months, we were making

00:34:22 15 grand a month on reoccurring, right?

00:34:24 Charging $1.99 a month for unlimited boot

00:34:28 camp sessions.

00:34:29 Again, 30 minute sessions now, we've got

00:34:31 groups of 15 to 25.

00:34:33 I'm like, I think I can open one up in a

00:34:35 storefront, this will work.

00:34:37 So I open one up in a storefront, it works.

00:34:40 So then by 2010, I go, we're going to license

00:34:43 this, licensing program.

00:34:44 I had no idea what a franchise was.

00:34:46 I'd eat at a franchise, Subway Sandwiches, I

00:34:48 would get my oil changed at a franchise, Jiffy

00:34:50 Lube, but I had no idea.

00:34:52 Sure.

00:34:53 That I could open up a franchise.

00:34:55 So by this point, 2010, 2011, remember I had

00:34:58 all that audience, the gym owners.

00:35:00 I'm like, guys, one-on-one personal training is

00:35:02 dead, the economy, the housing markets crashed.

00:35:04 We got to all pivot.

00:35:05 You can't do outdoor boot camp in Minnesota.

00:35:07 It rains, it snows, you got to bring it

00:35:09 indoors, you got to have equipment, you need

00:35:11 structure.

00:35:12 I've created that and I've proven that twice.

00:35:14 And so we launched Fit Body Boot Camp as a

00:35:16 licensing program, but back then CrossFit was

00:35:19 also doing an affiliate program, which is

00:35:22 licensing.

00:35:23 And I noticed that CrossFit, they would open

00:35:25 two of them up right across the street from

00:35:27 each other and it was literally duke it out,

00:35:29 survival of the fittest.

00:35:30 And I was like, well, I don't want my licensees

00:35:32 to duke it out.

00:35:33 So I'm going to give every licensee a five-mile

00:35:36 protected territory.

00:35:37 And dude, just to show you like how ignorance

00:35:39 is bliss, like if anyone watching or listening

00:35:41 to this is like, I got to figure it all out.

00:35:43 No, you don't because I remember giving our

00:35:46 Huntington Beach Fit Body Boot Camp location a

00:35:49 five-mile radius.

00:35:50 Bro, two and a half miles of it was in the

00:35:52 fucking Pacific Ocean.

00:35:53 I wasn't even smart enough to go like, here's

00:35:56 what your radius needs to look like because

00:35:57 you're on the ocean, right?

00:35:59 And so you don't have to be that smart.

00:36:01 You just have to move and pivot, move and pivot.

00:36:03 So I have like 85 locations, licensed locations

00:36:06 at this time, giving them protected territories

00:36:08 because I don't want them to fight each other

00:36:10 like CrossFits.

00:36:11 The great state of California reaches out to me.

00:36:14 Like, hey.

00:36:15 Yeah, you're a franchise.

00:36:16 You're a franchise.

00:36:17 I'm like, I am?

00:36:18 No, I'm not.

00:36:19 You know, what is a franchise?

00:36:20 Never heard of this, right?

00:36:21 Like, yeah, you checked off the box of operating

00:36:23 like a franchise when you started to give

00:36:25 protected territories.

00:36:26 I'm like, okay, so what do I do?

00:36:27 Like, well, $2,500 fee times 80 some odd

00:36:31 locations.

00:36:32 I'm like, look, I'm going to go bankrupt if

00:36:33 you do this.

00:36:34 I can't afford that.

00:36:35 And these 80 some odd locations that are open

00:36:37 now or about to open are not going to have a

00:36:40 coach to mentor them.

00:36:42 So surprisingly, I don't know if California

00:36:45 would do this today, but back then, 2011, they

00:36:50 were like, all right, don't pay the fees, but

00:36:52 don't sell another location until you become

00:36:54 a franchise.

00:36:55 FDDs, franchise lawyers, legal documents.

00:36:58 Standard operating procedures.

00:36:59 Standard operating, yep.

00:37:00 All of it, right?

00:37:01 So I didn't know.

00:37:02 So I was like, okay, got it.

00:37:03 $87,000 later and almost 12 months later, you

00:37:07 know this.

00:37:08 I'm now a franchise.

00:37:09 Yay.

00:37:10 So late 2012, we become a franchise.

00:37:13 And so then I turned to all my licensees.

00:37:16 I'm like, well, you guys signed this franchise

00:37:18 agreement?

00:37:19 And they do.

00:37:20 And immediately we become one of the fastest

00:37:21 growing franchises overnight.

00:37:23 So now we're getting accolades by like Inc.

00:37:25 5000 Magazine, entrepreneur.

00:37:27 So this is why I sometimes was like, I think

00:37:29 I have a rabbit's foot up my ass, right?

00:37:31 Because just what was supposed to be a

00:37:32 disaster, I pivot, pivot, pivot, beg and plead,

00:37:35 figure it out, stay up late at night trying to

00:37:37 figure out what franchising is, and then

00:37:39 somehow it works out.

00:37:41 But I realized it's also work.

00:37:43 And it's, it's the consistent effort every

00:37:45 day, you just said it, I move and pivot, I move

00:37:47 and pivot.

00:37:48 There was never a moment where you said, let

00:37:49 me just sit here and hope it works out or, oh,

00:37:51 I'm so sorry, guys, it's a failure.

00:37:53 You kept moving like water and water will find

00:37:55 cracks.

00:37:56 Water will find, I love that, water will find

00:37:58 cracks and God knows I found the cracks, bro.

00:38:00 And that, that led to, you know, so about two

00:38:04 thirds of my licensees converted almost

00:38:06 instantly within like a 30, 40 day period.

00:38:08 So we started getting accolades like, wow,

00:38:10 this company, Fit Body Bootcamp comes out of

00:38:12 nowhere, this franchise growing like a weed.

00:38:14 And so we got more franchises on board.

00:38:16 But that's how Fit Body Bootcamp kind of came

00:38:18 to be in today, it's this international brand.

00:38:20 - 600 plus locations.

00:38:22 - Yeah, across US and Canada and growing.

00:38:25 - But again, success is great, but things

00:38:29 happen, COVID occurred and you lost over 200

00:38:32 gyms.

00:38:33 - Yeah, we had a massive contraction in 2020.

00:38:35 218 locations we lost and our cadence of adding

00:38:41 gyms, so we were adding pre-COVID, we were

00:38:45 gaining about an average of nine locations a

00:38:48 month, just to give you an idea.

00:38:50 During the entire year of 2020, starting March

00:38:56 of 2020 to March of 2021, in that 12 month

00:39:01 period, we gained a total of six.

00:39:03 We went from nine a month to a total of six

00:39:06 and we lost 218.

00:39:08 If that doesn't create a butthole pucker

00:39:10 factor, bro, I don't know what does.

00:39:12 The two PPP loans from the government, we got

00:39:16 used up, like it evaporated before it hit the

00:39:18 bank account.

00:39:19 The SBIL loan or whatever that is, where it's

00:39:21 the bigger loan for a longer period of time,

00:39:23 burnt through that.

00:39:25 I'm looking around like, what do I have to sell?

00:39:28 Kidneys, 401ks, okay, dump the 401ks, got it.

00:39:31 What else?

00:39:32 Those two rental properties I own, dump them.

00:39:34 I knew that if I can get onto the other side of

00:39:37 this franchise or this pandemic, that Fit Body

00:39:41 Bootcamp will survive.

00:39:42 But I'm like, now I've gone to war, I've become

00:39:44 the virus against the virus.

00:39:45 Like I had just this, I'm going to go to war and

00:39:48 someone's going to die, either the virus or me,

00:39:50 but it's not going to be me.

00:39:52 Yep.

00:39:53 So I sold my rental properties that I had at

00:39:55 the time, whatever I could.

00:39:57 And what I didn't want to do was dilute my

00:40:00 equity because we did have potential investors

00:40:04 come to me and offer me, as you can imagine,

00:40:06 pennies on the dollar.

00:40:07 And I did not take offense to it.

00:40:08 Like some of them were pretty good friends and

00:40:11 I did not take any offense to it because.

00:40:12 You have to be a savvy investor to be an investor.

00:40:14 Correct.

00:40:15 And so if you can get a good deal and strike

00:40:16 when there's blood on the street, then strike.

00:40:18 Yeah, they know, they know it's a good operator.

00:40:21 Like, okay, B is a good operator.

00:40:23 He's just going through hard times.

00:40:25 He's running out of money.

00:40:27 Hey, would you like to, you know, what if we

00:40:29 give you 11 million for X percentage of FitBody

00:40:32 bootcamp?

00:40:33 I was like, no, thanks.

00:40:34 I'm good.

00:40:35 I'm good.

00:40:36 I'll figure it out.

00:40:37 And then I panicked.

00:40:38 We went and tried to find the cracks as

00:40:39 Waterwood.

00:40:40 And, but, but we did.

00:40:41 And thankfully we were able to turn a corner

00:40:42 and we went to our location owners and we're

00:40:44 like, Hey, do you want to buy a third, fourth,

00:40:45 fifth location?

00:40:46 And then we started looking for multi outlet

00:40:48 owners, et cetera.

00:40:49 But we turned that corner and made it happen.

00:40:50 And that's when I realized I can be a wartime.

00:40:53 I'm a good wartime leader.

00:40:55 I don't, I didn't just have a 10 year, 15 year

00:40:57 run with a rabbit's foot up my ass.

00:41:00 I know how to lead a team during the worst of

00:41:02 times.

00:41:03 And, and it was a good feeling, man.

00:41:05 Yeah.

00:41:06 And it's impressive.

00:41:07 I mean, what I love about you as the coach,

00:41:09 cause I don't think you have to be an operator

00:41:10 or experienced to be a great coach.

00:41:12 Phil Jackson was, I mean, he played in the NBA,

00:41:15 but he was one of the best coaches of all time.

00:41:17 Red Auerbach, one of the best NBA coaches of

00:41:18 all time.

00:41:19 Probably not the best players like a Michael

00:41:20 Jordan or Kobe Bryant, but Michael Jordan wasn't

00:41:23 going to be a good coach.

00:41:24 Right.

00:41:25 But you're a great tactician and a great

00:41:28 coach, and you can provide that coaching for

00:41:30 your, you know, your client base because of

00:41:32 those two factors.

00:41:33 Yeah.

00:41:34 The fact that you know how to operate in times

00:41:36 of good and succeed, but you also, as you just

00:41:39 said, you can handle the wartime.

00:41:41 Yeah.

00:41:42 And that's a, not everyone can do both.

00:41:43 No.

00:41:44 And I think that is what made me unique.

00:41:45 And that is what makes my coaching programs

00:41:47 successful.

00:41:49 And I realized I charge an obscene amount for

00:41:51 coaching, but people see that, okay, cause

00:41:54 everyone's always watching bro, with social

00:41:55 media and the internet, people are like, okay,

00:41:57 this guy owns a franchise.

00:41:58 He's been growing and posting about it all

00:42:00 these years.

00:42:01 2020 is going to take him down.

00:42:03 It's like, oh shit, he didn't go down in 2020.

00:42:05 He didn't dilute his equity.

00:42:07 Oh shit, he's growing again.

00:42:09 Yeah.

00:42:10 Maybe I do need coaching from you.

00:42:11 Here's my hundred grand.

00:42:12 Yep.

00:42:13 Right.

00:42:14 And that's, you know, the proof is in the

00:42:15 pudding.

00:42:16 If you've been in the trenches long enough and

00:42:17 you can prove that you've done what is supposed

00:42:18 to be done in a trench, people will pay you for

00:42:21 that ability to time collapse for them.

00:42:23 Well, and I think most people don't understand

00:42:25 the power of coaching.

00:42:26 Right.

00:42:27 They don't realize that even the highest

00:42:28 performers, the Michael Jordans, the LeBron

00:42:30 James, they have coaches.

00:42:31 Tom Hanks has an acting coach.

00:42:33 Yep.

00:42:34 You know, Beyonce had a singing coach.

00:42:35 Doesn't mean they can do it better than you, but

00:42:37 they can collapse time.

00:42:38 Yeah.

00:42:39 They can also see from 30,000 feet cause they're

00:42:40 not living it like you are.

00:42:42 Outside eyes.

00:42:43 Outside eyes, that fresh eyes.

00:42:44 Yeah.

00:42:45 And making sure that people pay you for your

00:42:47 time, cause I hear from a lot of my friends who

00:42:49 have expensive coaching programs, but they're

00:42:52 very successful and they can implement and develop

00:42:55 individuals to get that level of success.

00:42:57 Why should it cost a hundred grand?

00:42:59 It should for two reasons.

00:43:00 One, you're a premium product.

00:43:02 That coaching program is unique, it's premium

00:43:04 and I'm going to get so much success.

00:43:05 But two, if it doesn't hurt a little bit to invest,

00:43:08 they're not going to be a good student, which

00:43:10 dilutes your brand.

00:43:11 Yeah.

00:43:12 And it's a quid pro quo that not enough

00:43:14 customers of coaching understand.

00:43:16 Correct.

00:43:17 They think, well, why am I going to spend so much?

00:43:19 If it doesn't sting a little bit, are you going

00:43:22 to put forth the effort to get the results?

00:43:24 Cause you have to put forth the effort.

00:43:26 I can give you the map.

00:43:27 Effort is required for results.

00:43:29 Effort is required.

00:43:30 Yeah.

00:43:31 And when it stings a little bit and you realize

00:43:32 like, okay, like if Ferraris were not expensive,

00:43:34 everyone would have them and it would no longer

00:43:36 be the definition of success in the automobile

00:43:38 industry, right?

00:43:39 The value proposition would change.

00:43:41 Hey everybody, looking for great insights?

00:43:43 Entrepreneur.com's podcast network is the

00:43:46 place for you.

00:43:47 Check out podcasts like Problem Solvers and

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00:44:01 And don't miss my new show.

00:44:03 It's all at entrepreneur.com/listen.

00:44:06 Let's start our success journey today.

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00:45:01 - You know, it's funny you say this too,

00:45:06 because I realize in that time, like,

00:45:09 even now I have coaches, but I could think

00:45:13 of a time where I had Joel Weldon as a

00:45:16 speaking coach, because I was just learning,

00:45:18 starting to do speaking gigs, and it's time

00:45:20 I'd speak for free.

00:45:21 Like, I'll pay for my way to go, right?

00:45:23 This is like early 2012, 2013.

00:45:27 Like, you want me to speak somewhere?

00:45:29 I'm there, I'll pay for the way, I'll stay at

00:45:31 the Motel 6, whatever.

00:45:33 But I had Joel Weldon as a speaking coach,

00:45:35 Frank Kern as a copywriting coach, and Joe

00:45:37 Polish as a business coach.

00:45:38 At one time, all three of them, I was paying

00:45:40 all three of them, I realized I grew up with

00:45:43 a lot of trauma.

00:45:44 Like, I had a lot of trauma as a child growing

00:45:46 up, and I realized it was a limiting factor

00:45:48 in my relationship and my business and my

00:45:50 personal development.

00:45:51 I went and worked with a psychologist, Kevin

00:45:54 Downing, out in Brea here, for 15 months

00:45:57 straight.

00:45:58 You know, like, that's coaching.

00:46:00 I wanted to time collapse my ability to learn

00:46:03 jujitsu, so I didn't just go do jujitsu

00:46:05 class, I hired a jujitsu instructor, and I

00:46:07 said, "Can you come and teach me three times

00:46:09 a week in my gym?

00:46:10 You and me, we just roll as hard and fast as

00:46:13 we can."

00:46:14 And, like, we always need coaches, and I think

00:46:17 people who think that you're supposed to be

00:46:19 somehow born with this factory-installed

00:46:21 ability to figure out business, figure out

00:46:23 your life, figure out your relationship, figure

00:46:25 out health.

00:46:26 But I'm a fitness guy, and because I was so

00:46:28 stressed out in 2012, 2013, trying to build

00:46:31 the franchise, I had put on, like, 30 pounds.

00:46:34 I hired Darren Mailing, a personal trainer and

00:46:37 nutrition coach.

00:46:38 He taught me everything I know.

00:46:40 Like, everything I knew, he would

00:46:43 destruct, but the difference was I was being

00:46:44 held accountable to somebody.

00:46:46 I had paid a premium to him, and so I did it

00:46:49 and lost a 30-some odd pounds.

00:46:51 Because imagine what a lousy representative

00:46:55 of Fit Body Bootcamp I would be if I'm making

00:46:57 selfie videos from the chin up, because I

00:46:59 didn't want to show my physique, because I had,

00:47:01 you know, stress weight on, right?

00:47:03 And so even as a fitness and nutrition guy, I

00:47:05 hired a fitness and nutrition guy because

00:47:07 money stings, like you said, and the human

00:47:10 holds you accountable, and you don't want to

00:47:11 let down your coach.

00:47:12 And so to not let him down, I'll get the results,

00:47:15 and as I start getting the results, I'll love

00:47:16 it so much, I'll start doing it for myself, too.

00:47:18 That's right.

00:47:19 And I mean, I spoke, I was just speaking at

00:47:20 WealthCon with Ryan Panetta, and I'm on stage

00:47:23 with his business coach.

00:47:24 And here he is with an event of over a thousand

00:47:26 people, so much success, so many successful

00:47:28 businesses, and he brings on his business

00:47:30 coach and pointing him out and saying, "Guys,

00:47:33 I've had this as my business coach for 10

00:47:34 years because successful people have coaches."

00:47:36 And non-successful people don't understand

00:47:40 the power necessarily if they don't have

00:47:42 coaching and mentors.

00:47:43 They're just playing blind.

00:47:44 They're taking the very long way, and it doesn't

00:47:46 mean you won't be successful without a coach

00:47:48 or a mentor, but you're stacking the odds.

00:47:50 Right.

00:47:51 There's a reason why when you see all the great,

00:47:53 in athletes and sports is the best analogy

00:47:55 because it's such an easy thing to expose

00:47:58 and look at, they all get coaching young.

00:48:00 Yeah.

00:48:01 Right?

00:48:02 They've been coached by the best, and they

00:48:03 just collapse time, the way you said it.

00:48:05 They collapse time and increase the probability

00:48:07 of success.

00:48:08 Yeah.

00:48:09 And help you.

00:48:10 And how often has a good coach or mentor, or,

00:48:12 you know, now it's like we've built our

00:48:13 networks, right?

00:48:15 Like made the right introduction.

00:48:17 I could think of Joe Polish making several

00:48:18 introductions, Frank Kern making several

00:48:20 introductions, Dean Grassiose making several

00:48:21 introductions.

00:48:22 I've had so many great people that I've hired

00:48:24 make introductions for me and open doors for me.

00:48:26 So it's not just what they tell you and teach

00:48:28 you and the accountability factor, but they're

00:48:30 connected, and sometimes it's a pay-to-play

00:48:32 business.

00:48:33 Everything is.

00:48:34 Everything is.

00:48:35 Yeah.

00:48:36 Life is.

00:48:37 I tell people, they're like, how do I connect

00:48:39 with Dan Fleischman?

00:48:40 You might want to come to Operation Blacksite,

00:48:41 you might want to come to one of his live

00:48:43 events, because when you come pay-to-play, he

00:48:45 will give you more of his time.

00:48:47 That's just how it is.

00:48:48 I mean, that's, we met on a stage at one of

00:48:50 Dan's events.

00:48:51 Yes.

00:48:52 And we built a friendship from there.

00:48:53 Yep.

00:48:54 And maybe we do, maybe we don't do business,

00:48:56 but we have access to each other's relationship

00:48:58 network, access to each other's information,

00:49:00 business acumen, and then you start to realize

00:49:02 that these coaches and these mentors become

00:49:05 your friends and you have access to their network.

00:49:07 But what's great is if you're my, if I hire

00:49:09 you as my coach, you have other students.

00:49:12 I'm going to get to access to them as well.

00:49:14 Yep.

00:49:15 And who knows what kind of synergies come

00:49:16 from that.

00:49:17 Right.

00:49:18 Business deals, opportunities.

00:49:19 Business deals, trials and tribulations,

00:49:20 struggles.

00:49:21 Yep.

00:49:22 Hey, how are you dealing with?

00:49:23 And now you're building a community that you

00:49:25 didn't have before.

00:49:26 So a lot of people who are like, well, I don't

00:49:28 have that, I don't live in the West Coast.

00:49:30 I live in middle America without access to some

00:49:32 of these great minds, hire coaches.

00:49:34 Yeah.

00:49:35 Get access to the community.

00:49:36 Yeah.

00:49:37 So you talk about Operation Blacksite, which is

00:49:40 an awesome event.

00:49:41 Yeah.

00:49:42 I think I was at your last, well, I think your

00:49:44 last one at the ranch.

00:49:45 Yep.

00:49:46 And I love what you guys are doing because this

00:49:48 is a unique and different kind of mastermind.

00:49:50 How would you sum it up in one sentence for

00:49:52 those who maybe don't know what it is?

00:49:54 Yeah.

00:49:55 So Operation Blacksite is if you're a patriot

00:49:57 and you believe that as a entrepreneur, you also

00:50:00 have the role and responsibility to be a

00:50:02 protector and look after your family, your

00:50:04 tribe, your people, male or female, then you

00:50:07 want to come to Operation Blacksite because not

00:50:09 only do we do the mastermindings and bring

00:50:12 some intelligent people like yourself and others

00:50:14 to speak during the lunch breaks and dinner

00:50:16 breaks, but then you've got like literally a

00:50:18 Captain America, Tim Kennedy teaching you how

00:50:21 to use a pistol to defend yourself.

00:50:23 Right.

00:50:24 And people are like, well, I don't have pistol

00:50:26 weapons.

00:50:27 You can start exactly zero.

00:50:28 I've never touched a pistol before.

00:50:29 We've had many people come through Operation

00:50:31 Blacksite.

00:50:32 They've never touched a pistol before.

00:50:34 Tim Kennedy, Ray, who's a Navy SEAL.

00:50:36 They are so good at working with you with the

00:50:38 pellet gun first and elevating you to the real

00:50:41 pistol.

00:50:42 And then you've got Michael Chandler, one of

00:50:44 the top UFC fighters right now, teaching you how

00:50:46 to grapple and roll and jujitsu and moves and

00:50:49 strikes that you could do to protect yourself.

00:50:51 And then you've got Chris Weichmann, who's a,

00:50:53 he was an Air Force Special Forces SEER instructor.

00:50:56 I think SEER stands for survive, escape, resist,

00:50:59 evade.

00:51:00 So like if any of our top military dudes got

00:51:03 caught behind enemy lines, how they could survive,

00:51:05 escape, resist, evade.

00:51:06 He teaches like entrepreneurs.

00:51:08 And in fact, wasn't there some entrepreneur a

00:51:09 couple of years ago, he kind of posted that he

00:51:12 was at some party and then some dudes tried to

00:51:14 kidnap him as he was leaving the party.

00:51:17 And he had some famous website that he had

00:51:19 started.

00:51:20 But all this to say, like, imagine you get

00:51:21 kidnapped, you're duct taped, you're in the

00:51:22 back of a trunk.

00:51:23 Like, how are you leaving breadcrumbs?

00:51:25 How are you figuring out where I am?

00:51:27 How do you get out of ropes, handcuffs, duct

00:51:29 tape?

00:51:30 The duct tape thing was so fun.

00:51:31 Wasn't that crazy?

00:51:32 It was so cool.

00:51:33 You can break through a giant thick amount of

00:51:35 duct tape around your wrists and ankles, man.

00:51:37 And so, and then as you're having so much fun

00:51:39 doing all this networking with other like-minded

00:51:41 entrepreneurs, you realize, wait, at lunch,

00:51:44 we've got Tim Grover speaking.

00:51:46 What?

00:51:47 At dinner, we got Sean Whalen and, and, and

00:51:49 Jeff Fenster, like what the hell?

00:51:51 So you're, it's a no brainer.

00:51:53 Yeah.

00:51:54 It was awesome.

00:51:55 And not to mention the, the shoot house where

00:51:57 you're, you're traveling through a house with a,

00:51:59 I don't know what kind of gun it was, but.

00:52:01 A Glock 19, the shot up pellet.

00:52:04 Yeah.

00:52:05 And you're, now these are experiences that you

00:52:07 hope to never deal with in real life.

00:52:09 But you know, when you, if you ever do, having

00:52:11 some knowledge, like I know how to get out of

00:52:13 duct tape if you duct tape my wrist today.

00:52:15 Right.

00:52:16 I hope I never need it.

00:52:17 Right.

00:52:18 I hope I never need it.

00:52:19 But it was such a cool experience to have it

00:52:21 and to be around these high performers, at

00:52:23 your point, these patriots, these individuals

00:52:25 that are killing it in life and want to have

00:52:27 more understanding and knowledge.

00:52:29 And it was just a great event.

00:52:30 It's one like I've got to speak at a lot of

00:52:32 events.

00:52:33 I get to go to a lot of events.

00:52:34 It's one of my favorite events.

00:52:35 I mean, I got to speak at an event and learn

00:52:37 how to do all these fun things.

00:52:38 Yeah.

00:52:39 Yeah.

00:52:40 I'm grappling with Michael Chandler.

00:52:41 I mean.

00:52:42 And who doesn't want to learn that?

00:52:43 And, and they're all like, they're vicious in

00:52:45 their arenas.

00:52:46 Like, you know, you take Ray, the Navy SEAL

00:52:48 and you're like, Hey, there's some bad people

00:52:50 who hate America.

00:52:51 Like they will find ways to kill them 20

00:52:53 different ways.

00:52:54 And they were just savages at it.

00:52:55 But then you put them in front of these like

00:52:57 awesome male and female entrepreneurs and

00:52:59 they're cracking jokes and being lighthearted

00:53:01 and having fun.

00:53:02 And you're like, wow.

00:53:03 Okay.

00:53:04 This is what learning to shoot a pistol is

00:53:05 like, well, this is fun.

00:53:06 I could do this.

00:53:07 And before you know it, by the end of the two

00:53:09 day experience, you're going through the

00:53:11 shoot house and it's like a kill, no kill

00:53:13 target.

00:53:14 You know how, like, you know how to tell the

00:53:16 difference, you know, muzzle discipline, you

00:53:17 know, how to shoot a magazine.

00:53:18 Just two days ago, you had no idea.

00:53:20 Like that is a good feeling.

00:53:21 And the relationships that are built because

00:53:23 you go through that with, I mean, a hundred

00:53:25 other people.

00:53:26 Yeah.

00:53:27 And you get to have that experience together.

00:53:29 Yeah.

00:53:30 That carries.

00:53:31 That carries, man.

00:53:32 That's how friendships are formed in a matter

00:53:34 of two days.

00:53:35 Exactly.

00:53:36 And you get these opportunities if you say

00:53:38 yes.

00:53:39 And that's the key.

00:53:40 Say yes to the adventure.

00:53:41 Say yes to the adventure and seek it out.

00:53:43 Yeah.

00:53:44 And so I like to wrap with, for my audience

00:53:46 just in life, you know, I call them my success

00:53:48 formula or my core values.

00:53:50 Not everyone has them defined clearly, but I'm

00:53:52 just curious, you individually, do you have a

00:53:54 set of non-negotiables just when you're going

00:53:56 to attack a project, when you're in the storm?

00:53:58 Do you have this innate list and are you clear

00:54:00 on it or is it just kind of something that you

00:54:02 you work through?

00:54:03 Yeah.

00:54:04 So I've got a very clear list of non-negotiables

00:54:06 for me and that is that if it's not on my

00:54:08 calendar for that day, I'm not doing it.

00:54:10 It's real simple.

00:54:11 I don't, I don't, I'm not the fly by the seat

00:54:13 of the pants guy because I believe that to

00:54:15 have a good outcome, I have to have a predictable

00:54:17 path and the predictable path comes from planning.

00:54:19 And so myself and Joan, my assistant have planned

00:54:22 my calendar out weeks, months ahead.

00:54:25 And so one, I live on my calendar too.

00:54:27 I tell myself if it's a thousand dollar, $2,000

00:54:30 an hour task or less, I won't do it.

00:54:32 So I won't go to the grocery store.

00:54:33 I don't fill up my car with gas.

00:54:34 I don't get my cars washed.

00:54:35 I don't go to the dry cleaner.

00:54:37 I don't book my own flights.

00:54:38 I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't drive to the

00:54:40 airport.

00:54:41 Hugo does.

00:54:42 All these things allow me.

00:54:43 He's not, I don't pick up a phone call that's

00:54:45 not scheduled to ring.

00:54:46 So if it's my brother, my sister, someone I'll

00:54:49 call them later that night, but I don't just

00:54:51 pick up a phone call.

00:54:52 I remember one time being at my son, Andrew's

00:54:54 soccer game.

00:54:55 He, at the time he's 18 now, he was 11 or 12

00:54:58 years old.

00:54:59 It's outdoors soccer game.

00:55:01 They're playing club soccer.

00:55:03 One of the dad's phones rings.

00:55:05 The dad picks, looks at the phone.

00:55:06 You can tell like he doesn't recognize the

00:55:08 number.

00:55:09 His son is a forward on the soccer team and

00:55:12 he's like running with the ball, man, attacking

00:55:14 the goal.

00:55:15 He doesn't recognize a number.

00:55:17 Yeah.

00:55:18 What do I do?

00:55:19 He answers now.

00:55:20 He's like, who, wait, who is this?

00:55:21 Where from?

00:55:22 He's pacing back and forth now behind all the

00:55:23 parents sitting.

00:55:24 His son goes and scores a goal, looks towards

00:55:26 dad and dad's still trying to figure out who

00:55:29 called him.

00:55:30 I can tell you that who, I don't care if that

00:55:32 was like Donald Trump on the call right there.

00:55:36 The relationship value that was lost between

00:55:39 that father and that son is going to take years

00:55:42 to redevelop.

00:55:43 Right.

00:55:44 And so to me, having non-negotiables is

00:55:45 important.

00:55:46 Same as date night.

00:55:47 It's a non-negotiable.

00:55:48 It's a Wednesday night with my wife and that's

00:55:50 it because we're busy, we're highly focused,

00:55:52 we're type A, tightly wound, high speed.

00:55:55 If it's not on my calendar, it won't happen.

00:55:57 So there is no, so when do you want to go on a

00:55:59 date?

00:56:00 The answer would be never.

00:56:01 Not because I don't love you.

00:56:02 It's if it's not tied to production, my personal

00:56:05 value comes from production.

00:56:07 So when I get sick, not only is the, like if I

00:56:09 have a cold or a flu or whatever, not only am I

00:56:11 getting beat up by the cold and the flu, but I'm

00:56:13 also hating on myself because I'm like, I haven't

00:56:15 produced anything today.

00:56:16 I'm no value to society.

00:56:17 I deserve to die.

00:56:18 Like I'm that guy.

00:56:19 Right.

00:56:20 So date night, like don't we dinner at home

00:56:23 every night, right?

00:56:24 But if it's on the calendar every Wednesday,

00:56:26 like clockwork, it happens.

00:56:28 And so I have my negotiables, also non-negotiables.

00:56:31 I won't go hang out with friends that aren't

00:56:33 married and don't have kids.

00:56:34 You're probably going to want to do shit that I

00:56:37 don't want to do.

00:56:38 I shouldn't do.

00:56:39 And then I'll regret if I do.

00:56:40 And so to have those really keep, it's like those

00:56:44 bumpers at a bowling alley that you drop down for

00:56:46 your kid.

00:56:47 I'll never end up in the gutter.

00:56:48 I may not get a strike every time, but I'll never

00:56:50 end up in the gutters.

00:56:51 That's extremely well said.

00:56:52 I like, I like that analogy.

00:56:53 And I like that you have that.

00:56:54 How would you simplify that to the entrepreneur

00:56:57 or individual watching right now that doesn't

00:56:59 have the resources to maybe get rid of those

00:57:01 non, those tasks that maybe, you know, you're

00:57:03 not, those tasks that maybe don't, aren't productive?

00:57:05 - Yeah.

00:57:06 So maybe for them it's, if it's not $50, if I

00:57:08 could pay someone $50 an hour or less or $20 an

00:57:11 hour, like what is that app where you can buy

00:57:13 groceries from?

00:57:14 - Instacart.

00:57:15 - Instacart.

00:57:16 Maybe if you're willing to pay, I don't know, a

00:57:18 dollar more for a bushel of bananas and whatever.

00:57:20 I don't know how much more Instacart charges,

00:57:22 but like we have Marlon, she goes and does the

00:57:24 shopping for us.

00:57:25 She's our house manager.

00:57:26 But if you don't have that, use Instacart

00:57:28 because do you really want to be driving to the

00:57:30 grocery store, going to the grocery store, rub

00:57:32 yourself with all, with, with all these low

00:57:35 intelligent people, no, no, nothing, no attack

00:57:38 on them.

00:57:39 It's just odds are they're not cut from the same

00:57:41 cloth.

00:57:42 They don't have the same ambitions as you do.

00:57:44 You have a nine to five, they have a nine to

00:57:46 five, you're trying to be an entrepreneur.

00:57:48 You don't need to be interacting with them at

00:57:50 all.

00:57:51 So use Instacart, have the food show up to you

00:57:53 and that extra 35 minutes that you could have

00:57:55 done at the grocery store, write an email, a

00:57:57 blog post, a caption, do a little more research

00:57:59 on something that'll get you another client,

00:58:01 another lead, another customer, another dollar

00:58:03 in your bank account.

00:58:04 And I think once you start realizing, you start

00:58:06 doing, what are my values?

00:58:07 Like, what do I value?

00:58:08 I value freedom, sovereignty, being a free

00:58:10 thinker, being a role model to my kids.

00:58:12 Okay.

00:58:13 So then am I going to do these low level tasks?

00:58:15 Am I going to avoid my workouts?

00:58:16 No, I'm not.

00:58:17 Like, because if I want to be a role model to my

00:58:19 kids, I have to land, my plane lands.

00:58:21 I text Andrew, my son, son, plane landed.

00:58:23 We're going to work out at this time.

00:58:25 Do you want me to pick you up or are you going

00:58:26 to meet me there?

00:58:27 I'll meet you there, dad.

00:58:28 All right, great.

00:58:29 Because if dad just goes home and goes, ah, what

00:58:30 a tough travel day, right?

00:58:31 And my son's going to be like, oh, so if I

00:58:33 travel, I can't work out.

00:58:35 That's right.

00:58:36 You can do both.

00:58:37 You have to do both.

00:58:38 You have to do both.

00:58:39 You have to be a role model.

00:58:40 That's a, that's a very high value item to me.

00:58:43 It's a non-negotiable that I don't.

00:58:45 And so make her a list of what you value and

00:58:48 set your price.

00:58:49 If it's less than this, then I won't do it.

00:58:51 And maybe right now you are getting your car,

00:58:53 you're washing your own car.

00:58:54 You are gassing up your car, but you're using

00:58:56 Instacart to get your food.

00:58:58 So you're buying some time.

00:58:59 You're buying back your time.

00:59:00 And the def, and what I love about this is,

00:59:02 because I talk a lot about the difference

00:59:03 between activity and strategic activity,

00:59:05 because there's a major difference.

00:59:07 A lot of people struggle because they feel like

00:59:09 they're being active, but they're running in place.

00:59:11 And you can run very fast in place and go nowhere.

00:59:14 It's about strategic activity.

00:59:15 And you've clearly defined the difference that

00:59:17 says, yes, I can go be busy and feel like I did

00:59:20 a lot today.

00:59:21 Or I can be strategically active and get a lot

00:59:23 done and be productive.

00:59:24 And yes, obviously we all want to be in a

00:59:27 position where $1,000 or less, we don't do it.

00:59:30 Not everyone is there financially yet.

00:59:31 Not everyone is there in their life cycle.

00:59:33 They might be 17, 18, 19 years old.

00:59:35 But you can find small micro ways to do it.

00:59:37 And that's the key.

00:59:38 Just like you've done over your career,

00:59:40 as we just went through.

00:59:41 And I think it's so powerful for all of you

00:59:43 listening or watching to see someone who has

00:59:45 achieved the amount of success that Bedros has,

00:59:47 didn't start there.

00:59:49 And he's had so many valleys and hills to climb

00:59:52 and falling in the dumps.

00:59:54 And as he said, oh my gosh, am I going to go

00:59:56 back to living on my mom's couch with my wife

00:59:58 and kids?

00:59:59 No.

01:00:00 And he became water and he kept moving and he

01:00:02 kept finding and defining and continuously,

01:00:04 as you said, pivoting, moving, pivoting, moving.

01:00:06 What happens is you find success on that journey.

01:00:09 - Yeah, well said.

01:00:10 - So Bedros, I want to thank you so much

01:00:12 for coming today.

01:00:13 - Thank you, Adair.

01:00:14 - I mean, I think for the audience,

01:00:15 you're such an inspiration for me,

01:00:17 someone that I've looked up to as a friend,

01:00:19 but privileged to get to know you and just feed

01:00:22 off that energy because you really are all those things.

01:00:24 You are the guy that you represent online,

01:00:27 on stage, off air.

01:00:29 What people don't see, if they don't have that

01:00:31 relationship with you, you truly embody it.

01:00:33 And so that's unique in today's environment

01:00:35 and excited for all of the things you're doing.

01:00:37 You are helping Americans, you are helping

01:00:39 entrepreneurs, you're helping more people

01:00:41 achieve success.

01:00:42 So I just want to thank you again for coming down.

01:00:44 This has been awesome.

01:00:45 - Jeff, that means a lot, man.

01:00:46 And I want to thank you for the opportunity.

01:00:48 It's not lost on me that some great humans

01:00:50 have sat behind this microphone and now I get

01:00:52 to be one of them and I appreciate that opportunity.

01:00:54 - Thank you.

01:00:55 This was awesome.

01:00:56 - Thank you.

01:00:57 - Thank you so much for listening.

01:00:58 If you're looking to level up your relationship

01:01:00 capital game, then take a minute and text the word

01:01:02 JEFF to 33777 for a free copy of my Network

01:01:07 to Millions playbook.

01:01:09 The link will also be provided in the show notes below.

01:01:11 See you guys next time.

01:01:13 (upbeat music)

01:01:16 (upbeat music)

01:01:21 (upbeat music)

01:01:26 (upbeat music)

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