WEBVTT

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Education's the only thing that no one contacts you out of you can't lose in a divorce,

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and the government can't take it from you.

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Welcome to the game where we talk about how to get more customers, how to make more

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customers, how to keep them longer, and the many failures and lessons we have learned

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along the way.

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I hope you enjoy and subscribe.

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What's up ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls around the world.

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I would like to welcome you back to the Real Talk with Zuby Podcast.

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Today we are coming to you live from Las Vegas, Nevada.

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We've got a very special guest in the house, had to travel all the way out here to come

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see him over the pond, over the coast, and I'm here today with the one and only Alex

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Formozzi.

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Welcome to the show.

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Thank you for having me.

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I'm very honored.

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Awesome man, Alex.

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It's so good to have you on the show.

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I've been following you for a while listening to your interviews, listening to the videos you're

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putting out there on YouTube and other platforms, and first of all, I love what you're doing.

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It's awesome.

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It's inspiring.

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So for people who have been living under a rock and are not familiar with who you are and

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what you do, please introduce yourself to the audience.

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So I own a portfolio of companies right now that makes a good amount of revenue before

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that.

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I sold three companies in 2021, two for 46 million and one for an undisclosed amount.

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That was an all stock deal.

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For that, I owned a chain of gyms that I grew organically, started sleeping on the floor

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there.

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Before that, I was a guy who graduated college and didn't know what to do.

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I went into management consulting for two years, decided I didn't like that and decided

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to, quote, pursue my passion, which was fitness at the time.

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And it was also the only business of the three businesses I thought of starting that I could

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pretty much start without too much money.

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And so I put my $50,000 I had saved up at $23,000 into that.

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And so I kind of reversed told you the story, but that's more or less how I got to where

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I'm at now.

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So now we, after we sold the companies, we started acquisition.com, which is the portfolio.

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And the whole idea was, I'm a big believer that there's magic between something old and

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something new.

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And so, you know, the investing private equity model is not new by any means, but like social

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media and influence is kind of still a new thing overall.

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And so I was like, I wonder if there's something in between there where we can use social

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media to build trust, provide value.

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And then hopefully just have companies come inbound that are like, hey, I've read all your

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stuff.

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I've gone through it.

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Like, I love how you do business.

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We do business the same way.

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And so it would create a more lubricated deal process.

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And that was just kind of a theory when we started it, but it has worked out.

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And so that's what we do now.

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So we just, we buy businesses, both majority and minority interests and them and help

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them grow.

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That's awesome, man.

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Well, I think a lot of people who know you will sort of be aware of you and everything

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you're doing just over the last few years as you've come to more prominence and become

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a public figure.

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But I'm always curious with any guest that I have on or anyone I'm speaking to who's

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achieved success in something.

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I'm always curious to go way back and find out more about their life journey.

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So tell me more about your growing up.

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What was Alex Hormosey like as a kid and through school?

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I was an only child for the first half that my dad remarried and then I had two steps

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of links.

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I was pretty much just raised by my dad for the most part.

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So I was a pretty quiet kid, just did my homework, did my sports kind of kept to myself

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for the most part.

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Once I got into middle school, that was really tough for me.

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Getting to high school, I started to like, I hit with her puberty kind of earlier.

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So I had like muscles, there's pictures of the internet, like I was, I was pretty fit

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and I had pretty good genes for that stuff and so that's actually what kind of got me

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into fitness was I had a teacher who was like, hey, he's like, you left?

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And I was like, no, he said you've got the genes, he's like, I'll show you after school

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if you want.

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So I went with this guy after school and he showed me how to work out during my freshman

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year of high school and I looked like I worked out and that kind of set a little bit of

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the direction of my life.

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That kind of got me into what I would consider my relatively angry phase of my life.

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You know, late high school early college, I had a very like, what was me, I'll look on

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life, I felt like I'd been wronged whether it's true or not, it's kind of relevant.

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But that was how I high perceived the world at that point.

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What did you feel you were wronged about?

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You know, who know, teenage angst, but you know, I felt like I had a bone to pick with

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both my parents in general.

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The classic feelings of being misunderstood, not giving your liberty, you know, having

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approval from parents withheld from you despite, at least for me, I tried very hard to gain

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the approval of my parents.

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And so, you know, I was on three varsity sports teams.

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I was the editor in chief of the literary magazine, the vice editor of the newspaper.

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I was in shape like, you know, I tried to do everything I could, but I felt like it was

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continued like the goal post continued to move and that's fine because at the end of

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the day, like, where I am today, I'm grateful for who I am and I can blame them both for

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that.

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But coming up, I definitely didn't have the perspective.

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I think that I do now.

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And so I was an angry kid.

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Everything kind of broke through for me around like 19-ish, I had this psychology course

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that I was taking in college and we had to write an essay about someone we knew who had

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a mental disorder or something like his or his psychology, so you had to like pick something

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and then tell the story of how they could have potentially gone in that direction from

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their perspective.

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So, it's a really interesting assignment.

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And I wrote about my mother and in so doing, one of my favorite quotes, Pascal is, and

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he was the mathematician, Pascal Strangel, he was also a Christian theologian, so kind

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of interesting.

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And he said to understand is to forgive.

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And so when I wrote my mother's story from the fact that she was born in France, came

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here when she was four, got beat up as a kid, because she didn't speak English, the classic

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four, and this was before it was frowned upon, to beat up foreigners.

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We've progressed in some ways, yeah, we've progressed, and so, and when he was, and I was

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thinking about that, and her father was a super immigrant from Serbia, and so you've

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a Serbian man who escapes the Nazis with his family, comes here, builds a life for himself,

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and kicks them up out of bed no matter what every morning, like just militant, and that's

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okay, because that's, you know, he realized the opportunity he had, but I was like going

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through this and thinking, you know, it makes sense that she had some, like she is this

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way, right?

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And so all of a sudden, I remember coming back from college and seeing her, and I didn't

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see her that much before, and didn't, and I just remember this kind of very disobeyed

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moment, being like, I can't be angry with you.

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And then she just looked at me, I was like, I get it, I get it, it was tough, and like,

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I'm sorry.

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And then she just, like, burst in the tears, and you know, and it was like a nice moment

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there.

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So that was like a big life lesson for me.

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It was like most of the times, if I'm angry, it means I don't fully understand the situation

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where both people's context.

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And so I think that was kind of a big, a big breakthrough for me as a person, so I was

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like, huh, this person that I've like held all this anger towards, if I just like,

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if I understood more, and my anger came from ignorance.

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And so that's been a frame that I've tried to approach situations, and when I start feeling

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angry about something, I'm like, what do I not understand?

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And that kind of helps me diffuse those things.

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And so I think over time that's helped me in business scenarios and business settings

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make better decisions, because I mean, we're all human.

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We all have emotions, but you know, the degree to which we allow the emotions to affect

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our decisions, I think, is the thing that we have some level of control over.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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And that's powerful.

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Of all emotions and feelings people can have, I think resentment is one of the most

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deadly ones, both for yourself and for other people, I think it's so, it's so limiting.

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And I think there are so many people in this world, you know, sometimes with, with good

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reason, who feel and harbor resentment towards other people within their family, people

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they've met, people who wrong them when they were in school 20, 30, 40 years ago, sometimes

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even their own spouse or their own children, whatever it is.

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And it just eats people up.

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And it's such an impediment because if you are angry, I mean, there are times when you

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can use anger as a motivator, if you channel it well, to go on and do something successful,

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but it can just be, it can be disruptive and destructive and it manifests in all these

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sort of different ways.

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And I just think there's so many people in this world right now walking around with that

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within them.

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You see it offline.

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You see it online.

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Just that person who, you know, you, you post a video of you working out and they're

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like, mad at it.

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And it's like, well, I'm like, what?

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Why are you angry?

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Why are you lashing out at someone posting a video or a photo of them in the gym?

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And it's like, all right, there's something that's, I'm not trying to cycle, analyze

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everyone, but I'm like, man, there's something going on in the background there and you're

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not angry at this person, but there's something here that's like triggering you.

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So you had this breaking point at 19 where you really shifted your mindset.

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Were you already an entrepreneur at this time in any sort of way?

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I was in zero, zero ways, was I an entrepreneur at this point.

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Okay.

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So yeah, at that point, I kind of got my, got my shit together, torn, got my stuff together.

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And I started cleaning up my act.

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So I had, I had been kind of like a party boy leading into that.

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So I just always was out drinking, always partying, always just chasing after girls.

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And then at that point, I was like, I need to take life seriously because this is my

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track is not good.

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And so I kind of applied the same thing that I was doing in high school from an achievement

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perspective back in college.

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And then I did did well the last two years because I graduated in three and kind of followed

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the path, got a job as management consultant, which was at least for me.

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It was investment bank or management consultant.

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Primary reasons, they made the most money.

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Yeah.

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And so that's why that's why I picked it.

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I used to be a management consultant as well.

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Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

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Accenture.

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Okay.

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Yeah.

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No, we were a subcontractor under Buzel and so it was a defense contracting public sector

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stuff.

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And so I was like, you know, in a past life, I had a top secret clearance and all that

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fun stuff that came with it.

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It sounds only cool to say.

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But did that for two years, realized I didn't really enjoy the work and that was when I got

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really depressed.

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It was a very hard time in my life at that point because I felt like I had done everything

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I was supposed to do and it had resulted in what I had hoped.

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And so at this point, I had moved back home, so I went to school away from home, went

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back home.

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Where was home at this point?

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By the Baltimore.

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And so I went back home, had this job and I done at this point, everything that my

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father had wanted me to do and it was his approval that I was seeking.

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And the thing is, it's like I had his approval, but it didn't hit the way I wanted it to.

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And so what I realized was I didn't have my own approval.

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And so in realizing that, at least for me, the source of my depression was that I was

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not proud of who I was because I did not feel like I was free, except I felt like I had

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made a lot of the decisions I had made up to that point in my life because of expectations

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of other people that I was trying to meet.

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And so having met those expectations and not met mine, my own, I felt a big discrepancy.

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And so it was about six months of me going back and forth of like, I really want to get

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into fitness or learn to start my own business.

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And I would always call my dad up and he'd be like, ah, you know, give it time, you know,

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go to whatever and so then I was in the process of applying to business school and do your

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two years and then you do that whole game.

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And the first question for Harvard's for HBS was, how will Harvard Business School

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MBA help your short, long-term goals?

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And I stared at the questions for like three days and I realized for me, it didn't because

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I wanted to ultimately start a business.

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And so I thought about, okay, well, $180,000 plus the opportunity cost of time versus what

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I can learn in two years, not spending $180,000 and making money during that period of time.

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And I looked at the average income to after HBS was like between 120 and 180 and I was

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like, I think I could figure that out.

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And so I still didn't get my dad's approval.

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And so I ended up actually driving across the country from Baltimore without telling anyone.

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And I called my dad halfway through or halfway across the drive to me like, hey, by the way,

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I'm going to be doing this thing and he was like, I just come over, we'll have lunch,

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we'll talk about it.

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And I was like, I'm going to Ohio and then he kind of like snapped rightfully so, I guess.

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And yeah, and we had a, we had a pretty hard time the next five years didn't really talk

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too much to either of my parents because I was just trying to run this gym until that's

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when I went to the California and started a gym without knowing anybody, which was honestly,

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not as scary as it should have been because I was ignorant.

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But I do remember when I was sleeping on the floor of the gym and I was reading those

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motivation manifestos, it was not as cool as I thought it was going to be because like,

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you want credit for the rocky cut scene, but when you're in the rocky cut scene, it's

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a lot longer than 30 seconds.

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Oh, yeah.

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And so, you know, I'm sleeping in a warehouse where there's, there's a cars that drive

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over the top of it.

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And there's these metal partitions and this concrete box.

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It was like, and it would sound like a gunshot.

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And so I was sleeping there and so I'd wake up every hour at the night to new cars driving

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over it.

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And I pretty much like didn't sleep for the first like six to nine months of me being

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in business because I would wake up at four.

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The first people show up at four thirty in the morning, teach all the sessions, which

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ended at 10.

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Then I would do, I would work the leads that came in overnight and clean the gym, set up

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the workouts for the afternoon.

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The first people show up at four, four until eight taught sessions.

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And then I would do my sales consults from eight until 10 meeting with people and then

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from 10 o'clock until my, I could keep my eyes open.

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I'd run credit cards, do the billing and all that kind of stuff.

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And then I'd wake up again at four.

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And so it's just kind of this blur of life for me at that time.

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And I honestly don't think I would have been able to get through it if it had been through

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the amount of resentment I had for my parents at that point.

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And it was just the fear of going back not successful that continued to drive me through

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that.

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And so like a lot of people, when they're, they're thinking about starting a business,

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they're going on their own.

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They're like, I just, I don't know what I'm passionate about or like, I just can't find

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my, you know, whatever the thing is, you know, the vision for me was don't be broke.

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Yeah.

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And the motivation was not let my parents be right.

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And so I'm a big fan, like it's cool, you know, a lot of people see where we're right

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now.

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They're like, must be nice.

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And the real answer is, yes, it is much nicer now than it was then.

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And I can have bigger visions that can motivate much higher tier people, you know, to go towards

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a cause.

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But the thing is, is like, when you're started, you don't have that luxury.

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And I'm a big believer in the first rule of entrepreneurship is use what you got.

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And so if you've got pain, you've got anger, you've got shame, you've got fear, whatever

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that you've got insecurities, if you don't have the passion, use the pain.

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And so interesting you're telling that story because there are a lot of parallels with

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what I did after leaving my management consulting job.

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People don't understand the grind, right?

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There's this period, oftentimes it's seven to fifteen years of just intense grind where

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the amount of work you're putting in versus the reward you're actually getting back is so

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minimal.

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And then of course, you reach a certain stage after a decade plus and you start getting

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the, oh, must be nice or you got lucky or, oh, you know, I wish, I wish, you know, I

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got that lucky or whatever it is.

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And I think that's often because people see the end result, although this is not the end

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stage, right?

285
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They see that, but they completely missed the 10 to 15 years prior to it.

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And they weren't there for it.

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And they probably would not trade their comfort to go through all the nonsense and all the

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rejection and all the discomfort.

289
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So for me myself, I became a study at Oxford University.

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I graduated with a degree in computer science at the age of 20 and I did music full time

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for a year, but then I moved it to London, worked in the corporate world, management consultant

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for three years, 2008 to 2011.

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By the time I went full time with my music, I'd put out three independent releases, sort

294
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of a few thousand CDs just traveling around, selling on the street, hand to hand.

295
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And then from literally from 2011, when I went full time, 2011 to early 2019, I was just

296
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hustling.

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I was just out there my primary income for the first six years, literally to being out

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there on the street.

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I'm sure in certain cities, whether it's Vegas or New York or LA, London, you've come across

300
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guys selling their CDs in the street, right?

301
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So that was me.

302
00:15:56.120 --> 00:16:01.200
I was just out there every day, five, six days a week traveling all over the UK, North,

303
00:16:01.200 --> 00:16:06.160
South, East, West, Rings, no, UK doesn't have the best weather, snow, sun, whatever.

304
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I was just out there on the street all day talking to people.

305
00:16:08.800 --> 00:16:14.800
I sold over 25,000 CDs, hand to hand, wow, to sell 25,000 CDs, you know how many people

306
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you have to talk to.

307
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So when I tell people, I've met over half a million people in real life.

308
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They always like, oh, no, you just talk on Twitter or whatever I'm like, dude, you've missed

309
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the past 15 years, you know, I was just out there and then eventually 2014, I started

310
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doing pop-up shops.

311
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So you know in shopping malls, you get those little kiosks in the middle.

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So my friend and I, we started our own shop and we were selling our hats, t-shirts, CDs,

313
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we staff our own brand of headphones, so we were selling all that.

314
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So from 2014 to early 2019, that was my main bread and butter.

315
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So I do one pop-up shop a month for kind of half the month, just be in there, make a small

316
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profit, sometimes barely breaking even because you have to pay all their rental fees for

317
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the shopping mall and all that for the space and you have to pay for all the merchandise

318
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and all that.

319
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And that was it.

320
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I told people this on Twitter last year, but I think something important for people to

321
00:17:02.720 --> 00:17:10.440
know about my own story is, 2020 was the first year that I made more money than I used

322
00:17:10.440 --> 00:17:12.200
to make in my corporate job.

323
00:17:12.200 --> 00:17:20.240
I left my corporate job at 24, so it wasn't until I was 33 years old that I surpassed what

324
00:17:20.240 --> 00:17:23.360
I was doing back then because so many people thought, oh, you know, oh, you're a rat.

325
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People think if you're a rat for you're just making money, just because magic, right?

326
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And people don't understand the grind that goes into it.

327
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So I even have people who thought that I went into this for explicitly, oh, you just

328
00:17:35.360 --> 00:17:36.360
want to make more money.

329
00:17:36.360 --> 00:17:39.080
I was like, dude, if I wanted to just make money and be comfortable, I've got a degree

330
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from Oxford.

331
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I would have stayed on that corporate path and, you know what I mean?

332
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Just stayed there.

333
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It would have been comfortable.

334
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But people miss all that.

335
00:17:45.440 --> 00:17:46.440
And then, yeah, so it's interesting.

336
00:17:46.440 --> 00:17:48.280
There's a lot of parallels with that story.

337
00:17:48.280 --> 00:17:54.080
So coming back to you starting this gym in California, what made you actually want to

338
00:17:54.080 --> 00:17:55.080
do that?

339
00:17:56.080 --> 00:17:57.080
Yeah.

340
00:17:57.080 --> 00:18:04.160
If you're in Baltimore, that's a, seems a little, I don't know, you're going to go over

341
00:18:04.160 --> 00:18:05.160
and start a gym.

342
00:18:05.160 --> 00:18:06.160
Yeah.

343
00:18:06.160 --> 00:18:07.160
So there was two reasons.

344
00:18:07.160 --> 00:18:09.160
One was I wanted to get as far away from home as I could.

345
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Okay.

346
00:18:10.160 --> 00:18:11.760
And that was, it sounds more dramatic than it was.

347
00:18:11.760 --> 00:18:16.720
It was, I just wanted space, you know, I mean, I just, I didn't want to be in a day's

348
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drive away.

349
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Like, I wanted to be in my own area because I think the thing that I felt like I felt

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very constrained, I felt like I was trying to meet the expectations of other people.

351
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And so I just wanted to have, go to a place where as little of that physically could affect

352
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me emotionally.

353
00:18:30.440 --> 00:18:33.640
The other reason was I was between South Beach and California because they were the two fitness

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capitals in my opinion of the world at that point, or at least in the US.

355
00:18:37.560 --> 00:18:40.920
And so my thought process was, if I can win there, then I can win anywhere.

356
00:18:40.920 --> 00:18:41.920
Okay.

357
00:18:41.920 --> 00:18:44.200
And so I want to go where it's most competitive so that I can learn the best, most cutting

358
00:18:44.200 --> 00:18:47.440
edge stuff and then win there and then I can kind of expand nationally.

359
00:18:47.440 --> 00:18:50.000
At least that was my, my thought going into it.

360
00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:51.000
That was the main reason.

361
00:18:51.480 --> 00:18:56.360
To a point you said earlier, I think people would be willing to do the grind, but they

362
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can't do it the uncertainty because the thing is is like, if you say, hey, hold your

363
00:19:00.160 --> 00:19:05.800
breath and your hold your, and the person starts holding the breath, it's easy to do that.

364
00:19:05.800 --> 00:19:10.560
If you know the person's going to say you can breathe again in 10 seconds, but if you

365
00:19:10.560 --> 00:19:14.680
just sit there and you're like just staring at them, like I feel like that's a lot

366
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of what the entrepreneurship thing is, it's like you save up some money and then you take

367
00:19:18.440 --> 00:19:21.920
the dive and you hold your breath and you're like, how long am I going to have to hold my

368
00:19:21.920 --> 00:19:22.920
breath?

369
00:19:22.920 --> 00:19:24.160
And the answer is you just don't know.

370
00:19:24.160 --> 00:19:25.160
Yeah.

371
00:19:25.160 --> 00:19:26.160
And so I think that's the answer.

372
00:19:26.160 --> 00:19:27.160
I think that's the thing that most people are afraid of.

373
00:19:27.160 --> 00:19:30.160
And for me, that was my big fear because I just didn't know how long it was going to

374
00:19:30.160 --> 00:19:31.160
take.

375
00:19:31.160 --> 00:19:32.160
I knew I wouldn't stop, but I know what it was going to take.

376
00:19:32.160 --> 00:19:33.160
Yeah.

377
00:19:33.160 --> 00:19:34.160
I love that analogy.

378
00:19:34.160 --> 00:19:39.080
I think another core part of it for someone like yourself or someone like myself is we

379
00:19:39.080 --> 00:19:43.360
had taken the more normal option to begin with.

380
00:19:43.360 --> 00:19:45.920
So you know, it's almost like you're doing that.

381
00:19:45.920 --> 00:19:49.520
And there's also a rope that you know you can grab onto.

382
00:19:49.520 --> 00:19:53.120
So for some people, it's truly a sink or swim, like those people who they've got no family

383
00:19:53.120 --> 00:19:56.840
whatsoever, they're going to fall flat on their face and, you know, be on the street

384
00:19:56.840 --> 00:19:57.840
if they don't make it.

385
00:19:57.840 --> 00:20:01.080
You know, if it's like, oh, you've got a university degree, you worked in the corporate world

386
00:20:01.080 --> 00:20:06.680
before it's like, man, I know I can just grab this thing and live a quote unquote normal

387
00:20:06.680 --> 00:20:12.040
life and be comfortable, but you're still there holding your breath, have with this delusional

388
00:20:12.040 --> 00:20:17.480
level of self belief knowing, I know somehow some way this is going to work out.

389
00:20:17.480 --> 00:20:18.600
I don't know how long it's going to take.

390
00:20:18.600 --> 00:20:21.280
It could be five, seven, 10, 15 years.

391
00:20:21.280 --> 00:20:22.280
Yeah.

392
00:20:22.280 --> 00:20:23.280
And also people don't understand it, right?

393
00:20:23.280 --> 00:20:25.080
People are there like, why are you holding your breath?

394
00:20:25.080 --> 00:20:29.160
Like why don't you just be a normal person and do what normal people do?

395
00:20:29.160 --> 00:20:31.720
Why are you going through the, why are you sleeping in the gym?

396
00:20:31.720 --> 00:20:32.720
Yeah.

397
00:20:32.720 --> 00:20:33.720
Like what are you doing, right?

398
00:20:33.720 --> 00:20:37.680
With me, I'd be, I'd be just all over the place just when I left my job, and I got

399
00:20:37.680 --> 00:20:39.440
a Volkswagen transporter van.

400
00:20:39.440 --> 00:20:42.000
And I wrapped it in purple with the Zubi logo on the side.

401
00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:43.000
I still got it.

402
00:20:43.000 --> 00:20:44.000
It's called the Zubi tank.

403
00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:48.600
And I would just go on road trips, off and down the country, just fill it up with CDs

404
00:20:48.600 --> 00:20:49.960
and just travel around.

405
00:20:49.960 --> 00:20:53.400
And of course, to keep costs down, I mean, I had, I didn't normally sleep in my van.

406
00:20:53.400 --> 00:20:56.800
I did it a couple times, but I just stay in like the cheapest hotel possible.

407
00:20:56.800 --> 00:20:58.240
I'm going to Manchester for a week.

408
00:20:58.240 --> 00:21:03.000
I'm just going to stay in the cheapest, craftiest hotel, or if I've got friends there, cool

409
00:21:03.000 --> 00:21:04.000
I'll stay on there.

410
00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:07.320
So if I'll stay on their floor, whatever, because if I go, you know, I'm not making that

411
00:21:07.320 --> 00:21:08.320
much money.

412
00:21:08.840 --> 00:21:11.640
On a good day, maybe 100, 200 pounds.

413
00:21:11.640 --> 00:21:12.640
Yeah.

414
00:21:12.640 --> 00:21:15.680
And then if I go and I get a 100 pound hotel, it's like, well, what's the point of it?

415
00:21:15.680 --> 00:21:17.880
Yeah, I'm not making any profit at all.

416
00:21:17.880 --> 00:21:19.080
So there's a lot of discomfort.

417
00:21:19.080 --> 00:21:21.960
And then with a musician grind, you add to that, the gigging as well.

418
00:21:21.960 --> 00:21:25.440
So traveling around and doing shows and again, people are like, oh, wow, you're on tour.

419
00:21:25.440 --> 00:21:26.600
That's awesome.

420
00:21:26.600 --> 00:21:30.520
Maybe it's awesome at like the top level where you don't need to organize anything yourself

421
00:21:30.520 --> 00:21:33.720
and you just show up, you know, collect a giant bag of money and perform a couple

422
00:21:33.720 --> 00:21:37.200
songs, which everyone already knows the words to and you don't actually need to wrap.

423
00:21:37.200 --> 00:21:41.040
Like if you're a low level, lower level independent artist, like touring is a grind.

424
00:21:41.040 --> 00:21:42.040
It's not.

425
00:21:42.040 --> 00:21:43.040
It's not fun.

426
00:21:43.040 --> 00:21:44.040
You have to bring your A game.

427
00:21:44.040 --> 00:21:45.040
You've got to bring your A game.

428
00:21:45.040 --> 00:21:47.320
Even if there are 10 people in the crowd, you can go there.

429
00:21:47.320 --> 00:21:50.880
You know, you're looking at the crowd, half the audience is the staff, right?

430
00:21:50.880 --> 00:21:54.320
The sound, the sound man, the people working at the bar, the security guys, whatever.

431
00:21:54.320 --> 00:21:57.960
And you've got like five, six, like hardcore fans who have been following you on my

432
00:21:57.960 --> 00:22:02.000
space or on on YouTube or whatever, and you know, those ones that you don't even break

433
00:22:02.000 --> 00:22:03.000
even.

434
00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:07.200
You guys love that you're listening to the podcast.

435
00:22:07.200 --> 00:22:11.200
If you ever want to have the video version of this, which usually has more effects, more

436
00:22:11.200 --> 00:22:16.240
visuals, more graphs, you know, drawn out stuff, sometimes it can help hit the brain centers

437
00:22:16.240 --> 00:22:17.240
in different ways.

438
00:22:17.240 --> 00:22:18.240
You can check out my YouTube channel.

439
00:22:18.240 --> 00:22:21.880
It's absolutely free to check that out if that's what you are into and if not, keep

440
00:22:21.880 --> 00:22:25.040
enjoying the show.

441
00:22:25.040 --> 00:22:30.640
This is all the stuff that I like talking about it because I wish more entrepreneurs

442
00:22:30.640 --> 00:22:32.360
and more creative people did.

443
00:22:32.400 --> 00:22:36.480
I think so many interviews and so many conversations, it starts with the here and now.

444
00:22:36.480 --> 00:22:37.480
It's like, oh, cool.

445
00:22:37.480 --> 00:22:38.480
Here I'm here.

446
00:22:38.480 --> 00:22:39.480
I'm already a millionaire.

447
00:22:39.480 --> 00:22:40.480
And this is all my stuff now.

448
00:22:40.480 --> 00:22:44.480
And it's like, well, how did you, I'm more curious how someone made the first million

449
00:22:44.480 --> 00:22:50.400
than how they made the next, however many, because that first one is zero to one.

450
00:22:50.400 --> 00:22:51.400
That's the hardest.

451
00:22:51.400 --> 00:22:53.520
And that's where I think most of the life lessons are.

452
00:22:53.520 --> 00:22:59.560
So with that said, let's continue on this journey from you setting up this gym in California

453
00:22:59.920 --> 00:23:03.200
and sleeping in it, having the trains going over your head.

454
00:23:03.200 --> 00:23:05.760
What was the first success?

455
00:23:05.760 --> 00:23:08.840
So I was fortunate, very fortunate.

456
00:23:08.840 --> 00:23:11.000
And so I want to let the record show.

457
00:23:11.000 --> 00:23:14.640
I am just a lucky person and everything I have is from genetics and picking the right

458
00:23:14.640 --> 00:23:15.640
parents.

459
00:23:15.640 --> 00:23:17.840
That way, nothing I have is my own.

460
00:23:17.840 --> 00:23:18.840
But I moved out there.

461
00:23:18.840 --> 00:23:21.240
I had, I'll back up because I think this might be helpful for some people.

462
00:23:21.240 --> 00:23:25.760
So when I decided to go to California, I emailed, I think, 40 or so gym owners that

463
00:23:25.760 --> 00:23:27.880
looked like they were doing okay online.

464
00:23:27.880 --> 00:23:31.040
They don't got back to me except for this one guy, his name was Seven Figures Sam.

465
00:23:31.040 --> 00:23:32.600
That was what his thing was.

466
00:23:32.600 --> 00:23:35.200
And so he was good at helping gyms be more profitable.

467
00:23:35.200 --> 00:23:38.840
And so I got on the phone with him and I told him that I was going to be there and he

468
00:23:38.840 --> 00:23:41.120
was like, all right, whatever, I'm in here in Baltimore.

469
00:23:41.120 --> 00:23:44.880
And so I just drove for 36 hours and then I showed up on his doorstep and he was like,

470
00:23:44.880 --> 00:23:45.880
are you serious?

471
00:23:45.880 --> 00:23:46.880
And I was like, yeah, what's up?

472
00:23:46.880 --> 00:23:47.880
Let me learn.

473
00:23:47.880 --> 00:23:48.960
And he was like, I have things to do.

474
00:23:48.960 --> 00:23:50.720
Like you can like, he's like, where are you staying?

475
00:23:50.720 --> 00:23:51.720
He was like, I don't know yet.

476
00:23:51.720 --> 00:23:52.720
He was like, Jesus.

477
00:23:52.720 --> 00:23:54.880
He was like, you can stay at my place tonight.

478
00:23:54.880 --> 00:23:56.480
And so it was really nice of him to do that.

479
00:23:56.480 --> 00:23:59.800
And then the next day, he said, you know, you could be my apprentice.

480
00:23:59.800 --> 00:24:01.520
He said, I get to the gym at four.

481
00:24:01.520 --> 00:24:04.400
So be here at four and I stay at any work still for us.

482
00:24:04.400 --> 00:24:05.560
So he would work 12 hours.

483
00:24:05.560 --> 00:24:06.560
You do four to four.

484
00:24:06.560 --> 00:24:09.400
He's like, all these people think they can't have a family because he had kids and a wife

485
00:24:09.400 --> 00:24:11.600
and he's like, they just are willing to wake up early.

486
00:24:11.600 --> 00:24:15.560
He's like, I get home at four and I spend the rest of my hours like, huh, that's interesting.

487
00:24:15.560 --> 00:24:17.960
And so I was able to learn the ropes relatively.

488
00:24:17.960 --> 00:24:20.920
I only did it for three or four weeks, just kind of like shouting them around, understanding

489
00:24:20.920 --> 00:24:21.920
the business a little bit.

490
00:24:21.920 --> 00:24:25.360
And then I found a spot and he connected me with somebody in his group of gym owners that

491
00:24:25.360 --> 00:24:27.000
you guys should partner on this thing.

492
00:24:27.000 --> 00:24:30.000
And so we were going to split a location together because I had, you know, some savings,

493
00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:31.000
he had some savings.

494
00:24:31.000 --> 00:24:32.000
We're going to do it.

495
00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:33.640
By the way, terrible way to do a business partnership.

496
00:24:33.640 --> 00:24:37.760
You guys have the exact same skill set and might as well just split the money anyways.

497
00:24:37.760 --> 00:24:40.800
So needless to say, the night before we were just signed a lease, the other guy backed

498
00:24:40.800 --> 00:24:41.800
out.

499
00:24:41.800 --> 00:24:45.080
And so all of a sudden I had to stomach the whole thing and all the money and all the

500
00:24:45.080 --> 00:24:48.040
upfront costs, which ended up being one of the biggest blessings in the skies.

501
00:24:48.040 --> 00:24:51.360
But a week before that, that guy had said, hey, let's go to this marketing conference.

502
00:24:51.360 --> 00:24:53.480
And this is 2013.

503
00:24:53.480 --> 00:24:57.560
And at that marketing conference, it was a conference, a workshop.

504
00:24:57.560 --> 00:24:58.720
It was 10 people.

505
00:24:58.720 --> 00:25:02.080
The guy taught this thing called Facebook ads, it's 2013.

506
00:25:02.080 --> 00:25:03.080
It's talking about luck.

507
00:25:03.080 --> 00:25:04.080
You know what I mean?

508
00:25:04.080 --> 00:25:05.080
Like CPMs there.

509
00:25:05.080 --> 00:25:08.080
So cross-primpressions for anybody who's listening is like, that's what you have to pay

510
00:25:08.080 --> 00:25:09.080
to advertise.

511
00:25:09.080 --> 00:25:12.480
And on Facebook it was like $3.

512
00:25:12.480 --> 00:25:16.600
And so I was running ads for a gym as soon as I opened the gym.

513
00:25:16.600 --> 00:25:20.240
So that allowed me to, I remember the first month, I made the exact amount of money that

514
00:25:20.240 --> 00:25:23.560
my rent was, which was $4,972.

515
00:25:23.560 --> 00:25:28.440
And mind you, I had never made $4,972 of my, like me making it.

516
00:25:28.440 --> 00:25:30.600
I went from a job to that.

517
00:25:30.600 --> 00:25:31.600
That was actually the panic set.

518
00:25:31.600 --> 00:25:32.600
And I was like, what if this doesn't work?

519
00:25:32.600 --> 00:25:35.880
I was like, I'm just going on this and I had $5,000 saved up.

520
00:25:35.880 --> 00:25:38.400
So I had spent like 45 or whatever opening the gym.

521
00:25:38.400 --> 00:25:42.560
And I had one or two months of rents worth of money and then I was out.

522
00:25:42.560 --> 00:25:43.560
That's it.

523
00:25:43.560 --> 00:25:46.960
And so I broke even on that and then, you know, the next month I signed up to save

524
00:25:46.960 --> 00:25:47.960
amount of people.

525
00:25:47.960 --> 00:25:50.480
So we did $10,000 and then $15,000 and $20,000 and $25,000, $20,000, $20,000, $30,000.

526
00:25:50.480 --> 00:25:55.400
Although I have to $35,000 a month at that gym, by month nine, I, you know, had trainers

527
00:25:55.400 --> 00:25:58.160
and I had a manager and it started, it started working.

528
00:25:58.160 --> 00:26:03.000
And so month 15 opened my second location and then I opened up a new location every six

529
00:26:03.000 --> 00:26:04.000
months after that.

530
00:26:04.000 --> 00:26:05.760
I mean, I can get in the tactics around this.

531
00:26:05.760 --> 00:26:12.280
But the way that we're able to do it is I had a pretty cool model which allowed us to

532
00:26:12.280 --> 00:26:17.040
get a ton of customers for a low cost and a high amount of cash up front.

533
00:26:17.040 --> 00:26:19.760
So we could liquidate our acquisition cost and then we still had the back end.

534
00:26:19.760 --> 00:26:23.960
So people would, I could get paid to get customers, which is why I could open every gym

535
00:26:23.960 --> 00:26:25.840
at full capacity on the first day.

536
00:26:25.840 --> 00:26:28.240
And so I didn't even have to front the money for the new gyms I would open.

537
00:26:28.240 --> 00:26:31.960
I would pre-sell them, use the cash from the pre-sell to buy all the equipment, paint

538
00:26:31.960 --> 00:26:34.240
the walls, get the sign, all that kind of stuff.

539
00:26:34.240 --> 00:26:38.240
And so I would open up in the black without ever having to front any money and that's

540
00:26:38.240 --> 00:26:42.000
what allowed me to grow really quickly from like 23 to 26 in terms of my age.

541
00:26:42.000 --> 00:26:44.320
So at that time, I had six locations.

542
00:26:44.320 --> 00:26:47.840
These are all in California, five were in California and then the sixth one I opened in

543
00:26:47.840 --> 00:26:48.840
Virginia.

544
00:26:48.840 --> 00:26:49.840
Okay.

545
00:26:49.840 --> 00:26:51.520
So there's, here's where it starts to get interesting.

546
00:26:51.520 --> 00:26:52.520
Okay.

547
00:26:52.520 --> 00:26:54.040
So I started to get to this point where I'm like, you know what?

548
00:26:54.040 --> 00:26:55.040
I've got five gyms.

549
00:26:55.040 --> 00:26:56.040
I was actually kind of bored.

550
00:26:56.040 --> 00:26:57.240
I was like, this is all there is to life.

551
00:26:57.240 --> 00:26:59.720
I reached like a different, you know, moment.

552
00:26:59.720 --> 00:27:03.600
And I had seen this guy speak at this conference and he talked about internet marketing and

553
00:27:03.600 --> 00:27:04.600
all that kind of thing.

554
00:27:04.600 --> 00:27:05.600
And I didn't know anything.

555
00:27:05.600 --> 00:27:06.600
I didn't know much about it.

556
00:27:06.600 --> 00:27:11.240
And so I like Googled his name again and it was like, hey, I've got a mastermind.

557
00:27:11.240 --> 00:27:13.760
And so I was like, all right, whatever, I'll sign up for this thing.

558
00:27:13.760 --> 00:27:15.200
So I sign up for it.

559
00:27:15.200 --> 00:27:18.960
And I explained my whole business model and he says, right after I go through this like

560
00:27:18.960 --> 00:27:22.320
30 minute way more tax with the one I just went over, break down of like how I get all

561
00:27:22.320 --> 00:27:23.520
my gym profitable and all this stuff.

562
00:27:23.520 --> 00:27:25.880
And he's like, shouldn't be running gyms, man.

563
00:27:25.880 --> 00:27:27.680
And I, it actually like crushed me in the moment.

564
00:27:27.680 --> 00:27:28.680
I was like, what do you mean?

565
00:27:28.680 --> 00:27:32.400
This is like my whole vision, United Fitness was like, I got this really strong brand at

566
00:27:32.400 --> 00:27:33.400
the trademark.

567
00:27:33.400 --> 00:27:34.960
I was like, we're going to be America's gym.

568
00:27:34.960 --> 00:27:38.480
And it was like, I think you should be showing other gyms how to do what you do.

569
00:27:38.640 --> 00:27:39.720
He's like opening a full capacity.

570
00:27:39.720 --> 00:27:40.880
He's like, that's not a thing.

571
00:27:40.880 --> 00:27:41.840
And I was like, oh, really?

572
00:27:41.840 --> 00:27:45.400
Honestly, because I was so in my own bubble, I was like, of course, you would open a

573
00:27:45.400 --> 00:27:46.400
full capacity.

574
00:27:46.400 --> 00:27:47.400
Why not do that?

575
00:27:47.400 --> 00:27:48.400
Yeah.

576
00:27:48.400 --> 00:27:49.400
It's way better.

577
00:27:49.400 --> 00:27:53.920
And so I actually, from there, started doing these gym turnarounds.

578
00:27:53.920 --> 00:27:55.440
So I started flanks that had the time.

579
00:27:55.440 --> 00:27:58.080
So I started flying to gyms and turning them around.

580
00:27:58.080 --> 00:28:00.200
So like, I'd, I'd came out in front of them.

581
00:28:00.200 --> 00:28:03.520
I'd run my ads and I would do all the sales myself and I'd sell them into the gyms.

582
00:28:03.520 --> 00:28:06.560
I just filled a gym up and the deal was I got to keep the money I brought in and they

583
00:28:06.560 --> 00:28:07.880
would keep the customers to get the back in.

584
00:28:07.880 --> 00:28:09.840
So I was no risk for them.

585
00:28:09.840 --> 00:28:11.600
And I didn't have to worry about dealing with the gyms.

586
00:28:11.600 --> 00:28:14.640
So I just made all the money of opening a gym except I didn't have to open a gym.

587
00:28:14.640 --> 00:28:15.640
Okay.

588
00:28:15.640 --> 00:28:17.200
And so I did 30 turnarounds over the next two years.

589
00:28:17.200 --> 00:28:19.200
So you're like the Gordon Ramsay of gyms?

590
00:28:19.200 --> 00:28:20.200
Dinda.

591
00:28:20.200 --> 00:28:21.200
Yeah.

592
00:28:21.200 --> 00:28:22.200
I mean, we'd be like, I think you're using this.

593
00:28:22.200 --> 00:28:23.200
Yeah.

594
00:28:23.200 --> 00:28:24.200
But it's wrong.

595
00:28:24.200 --> 00:28:25.200
Like, you know, it kind of became like a system.

596
00:28:25.200 --> 00:28:28.880
But the rewind to me doing the first one, I think I did two or three launches in like

597
00:28:28.880 --> 00:28:29.880
a month.

598
00:28:29.880 --> 00:28:33.320
I mean, like a hundred grand take home, you know, in my, that was way more than I made

599
00:28:33.320 --> 00:28:35.200
from my gym because there's cost on the other thing.

600
00:28:35.200 --> 00:28:36.200
Sure.

601
00:28:36.200 --> 00:28:39.480
And I was like, holy crap, no employees, I just made a hundred grand.

602
00:28:39.480 --> 00:28:40.800
Like this is what I should be doing.

603
00:28:40.800 --> 00:28:45.560
And so I sold all my gyms in 90 days, I was just, I just fire sold them because I thought

604
00:28:45.560 --> 00:28:46.560
this was the opportunity.

605
00:28:46.560 --> 00:28:50.960
And of course, at this point, like everybody in my life is like, you work so hard to have

606
00:28:50.960 --> 00:28:51.960
these five gyms.

607
00:28:51.960 --> 00:28:54.520
What do you mean you're just giving them away, whatever, whatever.

608
00:28:54.520 --> 00:28:58.920
And so the first guy that I ended up doing the thing with, that mushroom guy had a, at

609
00:28:58.920 --> 00:28:59.920
an event.

610
00:28:59.920 --> 00:29:01.160
And so he asked me to speak on local businesses.

611
00:29:01.160 --> 00:29:04.120
So I spoke and I had a hundred people come up to me afterwards because I got all their

612
00:29:04.120 --> 00:29:06.120
business cards saying, like, what can I buy for me?

613
00:29:06.120 --> 00:29:07.120
And I was like, nothing.

614
00:29:07.120 --> 00:29:08.120
I'm a gym owner.

615
00:29:08.120 --> 00:29:09.120
Like I have nothing to sell you.

616
00:29:09.120 --> 00:29:11.120
But one guy said, here's my credit card.

617
00:29:11.120 --> 00:29:14.840
He said, charking for $5,000 and let me know what I get later.

618
00:29:14.840 --> 00:29:15.840
And I took the credit card.

619
00:29:15.840 --> 00:29:18.840
I mean, I got, I mean, I didn't take it.

620
00:29:18.840 --> 00:29:19.840
I got the number.

621
00:29:19.840 --> 00:29:24.480
And when I got back from the conference, I called the guy up right before I was actually

622
00:29:24.480 --> 00:29:25.480
going to run it.

623
00:29:25.480 --> 00:29:26.480
I was like, are you sure?

624
00:29:26.480 --> 00:29:27.480
And he was like, yeah, run it.

625
00:29:27.480 --> 00:29:30.800
So I ran the cart, went through, and I was like, okay, he's like, cool.

626
00:29:30.800 --> 00:29:31.800
What do I get?

627
00:29:31.800 --> 00:29:34.880
And I was like, uh, well, you know what?

628
00:29:34.880 --> 00:29:37.440
I promise you, I'll make you more than $5,000.

629
00:29:37.440 --> 00:29:39.760
And so again, look, child of luck.

630
00:29:39.760 --> 00:29:40.760
He had a gym in open.

631
00:29:40.760 --> 00:29:41.760
Okay.

632
00:29:41.760 --> 00:29:42.760
So this wasn't a gym conference.

633
00:29:42.760 --> 00:29:43.760
Oh, okay.

634
00:29:43.760 --> 00:29:44.760
I had a chance.

635
00:29:44.760 --> 00:29:45.760
The guy had a gym.

636
00:29:45.760 --> 00:29:46.760
And by chance, he was opening one up.

637
00:29:46.760 --> 00:29:47.760
Okay.

638
00:29:47.760 --> 00:29:48.760
And so I was like, perfect.

639
00:29:48.760 --> 00:29:49.760
I'll fly out and do it.

640
00:29:49.760 --> 00:29:51.360
And that was the first time I actually launched.

641
00:29:51.360 --> 00:29:54.760
And so that was what got me into figuring out how to like help other jimmers do it.

642
00:29:54.760 --> 00:29:55.760
That's what got me into it.

643
00:29:55.760 --> 00:29:59.360
Now, this guy, in particular, was like, dude, I can run these things.

644
00:29:59.400 --> 00:30:00.920
You just open one up every month.

645
00:30:00.920 --> 00:30:02.720
I'll just come behind you and I'll like staff it.

646
00:30:02.720 --> 00:30:04.760
And then we can open you a new gym every month.

647
00:30:04.760 --> 00:30:06.400
I was like, that sounds great.

648
00:30:06.400 --> 00:30:10.040
And so when I did sell my gyms to go all in on this kind of new opportunity,

649
00:30:10.040 --> 00:30:13.240
after I transferred all the money over to the account that we had shared,

650
00:30:13.240 --> 00:30:14.760
because I thought that's how you did it.

651
00:30:14.760 --> 00:30:19.040
Like one morning, I woke up to the second gym I was launching with it with this guy.

652
00:30:19.040 --> 00:30:20.520
And all the money was gone.

653
00:30:20.520 --> 00:30:24.280
And I was like, ooh, that's not good.

654
00:30:24.280 --> 00:30:28.640
That was all of the savings from the five years of me doing these gyms and selling them.

655
00:30:28.640 --> 00:30:30.240
That's tough.

656
00:30:30.240 --> 00:30:32.240
And so I called him up and was like, hey, what happened?

657
00:30:32.240 --> 00:30:33.600
He was like, well, I know you're skimming.

658
00:30:33.600 --> 00:30:35.080
I was like, what do you mean?

659
00:30:35.080 --> 00:30:37.120
He's like, well, that was just my half the profits.

660
00:30:37.120 --> 00:30:39.560
I was like, I haven't taken anything out.

661
00:30:39.560 --> 00:30:42.280
Yeah, I was like, there's stuff.

662
00:30:42.280 --> 00:30:45.240
And I had pre-sold like 370 people in this new location,

663
00:30:45.240 --> 00:30:48.240
which is a monster launch for a microchip.

664
00:30:48.240 --> 00:30:50.520
And there was no cash to run the business.

665
00:30:50.520 --> 00:30:52.640
And I had all these contracts I had to deliver on.

666
00:30:52.640 --> 00:30:54.360
And so at this point, I had sold my five.

667
00:30:54.360 --> 00:30:56.200
I had this one in Virginia.

668
00:30:56.200 --> 00:30:58.520
And I just like, I said, what do I do?

669
00:30:58.520 --> 00:31:01.840
And this point is when my wife at the time was just my girlfriend.

670
00:31:01.840 --> 00:31:05.600
And she's like, we should probably keep doing that other gym thing,

671
00:31:05.600 --> 00:31:07.880
where you just fly out once the gym and move on,

672
00:31:07.880 --> 00:31:09.800
because I was working.

673
00:31:09.800 --> 00:31:11.080
And this guy's trouble.

674
00:31:11.080 --> 00:31:13.480
And so I lost all the money.

675
00:31:13.480 --> 00:31:18.880
And then I had, I think I had 25 or $30,000 just not in that account.

676
00:31:18.880 --> 00:31:24.400
And I funded all the payroll and I didn't sell any new customers

677
00:31:24.400 --> 00:31:26.400
because I didn't want to own a gym and run it.

678
00:31:26.400 --> 00:31:28.880
Because I was like, I'm already done with that season of my life.

679
00:31:28.880 --> 00:31:32.840
And so I just watched my personal savings just dwindle.

680
00:31:32.840 --> 00:31:34.800
And then I was able to shut it down in six weeks.

681
00:31:34.800 --> 00:31:39.600
And I paid every refund that I needed to basically start over again.

682
00:31:39.600 --> 00:31:43.760
And at this point, we go to my girlfriends, parents' house,

683
00:31:43.760 --> 00:31:47.640
for Christmas, to meet them, because I was this guy from the internet.

684
00:31:47.640 --> 00:31:49.080
I was killing it.

685
00:31:49.080 --> 00:31:52.920
And I told her to quit her job to join me to do this gym launch thing.

686
00:31:52.920 --> 00:31:54.600
And of course, now we have no money.

687
00:31:54.600 --> 00:31:55.520
And I have no place.

688
00:31:55.520 --> 00:31:58.120
And so we're staying in her bedroom.

689
00:31:58.120 --> 00:32:01.680
And I'm working in their grandkids room with like a little chair.

690
00:32:01.680 --> 00:32:05.280
And I'm like, I've got my laptop uncrunched over trying to like do work.

691
00:32:05.280 --> 00:32:07.600
But I was like, I can't believe this is my life.

692
00:32:07.600 --> 00:32:10.520
And so to your point about like the parachute of like,

693
00:32:10.520 --> 00:32:11.800
I could just be a management consultant.

694
00:32:11.800 --> 00:32:12.800
Like, what am I doing?

695
00:32:12.800 --> 00:32:14.240
But here I am five years later.

696
00:32:14.240 --> 00:32:16.680
And I was like, I have nothing to show for this.

697
00:32:16.680 --> 00:32:18.240
And this is what I think is kind of interesting.

698
00:32:18.240 --> 00:32:20.080
It's that I had nothing on paper to show for it.

699
00:32:20.080 --> 00:32:22.200
But I had all the skills that I'd developed.

700
00:32:22.200 --> 00:32:25.320
Because over that time period, I'd done 3,000 sales.

701
00:32:25.320 --> 00:32:26.320
Just like you with the CDs.

702
00:32:26.320 --> 00:32:27.840
I was just some of the memberships.

703
00:32:27.840 --> 00:32:32.320
And so she got six of her friends to quit their jobs as well.

704
00:32:32.320 --> 00:32:33.320
Wow.

705
00:32:33.320 --> 00:32:34.440
To start this thing, why didn't you?

706
00:32:34.440 --> 00:32:35.400
We hadn't started yet.

707
00:32:35.400 --> 00:32:36.240
Wow.

708
00:32:36.240 --> 00:32:39.720
And it was going to start with all this money that I didn't have.

709
00:32:39.720 --> 00:32:41.120
Because it just got taken.

710
00:32:41.120 --> 00:32:43.240
And so is now Christmas.

711
00:32:43.240 --> 00:32:44.720
So we have this one more launch.

712
00:32:44.720 --> 00:32:46.520
I was going to do that I lined up.

713
00:32:46.520 --> 00:32:48.200
And we needed to crush this launch.

714
00:32:48.200 --> 00:32:52.960
And by chance, again, child of luck, I am born of luck.

715
00:32:52.960 --> 00:32:54.960
The guy reached out to me that he'd see me speak something

716
00:32:54.960 --> 00:32:55.960
like two years earlier.

717
00:32:55.960 --> 00:32:57.280
And I was like, hey, do you have any sales jobs?

718
00:32:57.280 --> 00:33:00.760
And I was like, well, actually, kind of maybe where are you?

719
00:33:00.760 --> 00:33:02.120
And he was like, San Diego.

720
00:33:02.120 --> 00:33:05.400
And I was like, that's actually where the gym is that I'm trying.

721
00:33:05.400 --> 00:33:06.480
He had no idea.

722
00:33:06.480 --> 00:33:07.640
I was like, well, where in San Diego?

723
00:33:07.640 --> 00:33:10.800
He was 10 minutes from the gym that I needed to do this launch

724
00:33:10.800 --> 00:33:11.320
in.

725
00:33:11.320 --> 00:33:12.480
I was like, you know, if I could get this month back,

726
00:33:12.480 --> 00:33:14.400
I could get all this other stuff ready.

727
00:33:14.400 --> 00:33:15.520
And so we launched the gym.

728
00:33:15.520 --> 00:33:17.560
The guy crushed it at 100,000 in sales

729
00:33:17.560 --> 00:33:19.760
in the first month.

730
00:33:19.760 --> 00:33:21.680
And I was like, OK, I'm scot free.

731
00:33:21.680 --> 00:33:23.360
But I saw the credit cards went through,

732
00:33:23.360 --> 00:33:24.480
where it could stack in the contracts.

733
00:33:24.480 --> 00:33:25.960
But I was looking at the bank account

734
00:33:25.960 --> 00:33:27.840
and like, nothing was happening.

735
00:33:27.840 --> 00:33:29.000
I was like, what's going on here?

736
00:33:29.000 --> 00:33:30.840
And I knew Tuesdays, if anybody's just a small business owner,

737
00:33:30.840 --> 00:33:32.440
like, you know what days you get deposits.

738
00:33:32.440 --> 00:33:33.440
You know what I mean?

739
00:33:33.440 --> 00:33:34.960
Because you know your deposit days.

740
00:33:34.960 --> 00:33:36.240
And Tuesdays was all my big digs.

741
00:33:36.240 --> 00:33:37.160
I got all my weekend money.

742
00:33:37.160 --> 00:33:38.920
And it was always dropped on Tuesdays.

743
00:33:38.920 --> 00:33:40.680
And so Tuesday comes and like, nothing happened.

744
00:33:40.680 --> 00:33:42.200
And then Wednesday and then Thursday and Friday.

745
00:33:42.200 --> 00:33:42.920
And then I called them up.

746
00:33:42.920 --> 00:33:44.640
They're like, oh, it's a standard review account.

747
00:33:44.640 --> 00:33:45.880
We do it every year.

748
00:33:45.880 --> 00:33:47.120
It's like, I've been with you guys five years.

749
00:33:47.120 --> 00:33:48.360
I've never had a review.

750
00:33:48.360 --> 00:33:51.320
OK, next Tuesday hits nothing.

751
00:33:51.320 --> 00:33:53.480
And I was like, OK, what's going on here?

752
00:33:53.480 --> 00:33:55.120
And so I called you more times.

753
00:33:55.120 --> 00:33:56.440
They didn't give me the time of day.

754
00:33:56.440 --> 00:33:57.760
And then finally, it's Christmas Eve.

755
00:33:57.760 --> 00:33:59.080
And I got on the phone with their support.

756
00:33:59.080 --> 00:34:02.960
I said, I will not get off this phone until you send me money.

757
00:34:02.960 --> 00:34:04.000
I need the money.

758
00:34:04.000 --> 00:34:07.680
Because all of her friends were starting on the 26, two days later.

759
00:34:07.680 --> 00:34:10.440
And the long story short of this is they said,

760
00:34:10.440 --> 00:34:11.720
it's been a regular activity.

761
00:34:11.720 --> 00:34:13.520
You're processing credit cards in different areas.

762
00:34:13.520 --> 00:34:14.880
And this is supposed to be for local gyms

763
00:34:14.880 --> 00:34:16.720
because I didn't know that you had to switch payment processors

764
00:34:16.720 --> 00:34:17.720
if you had a new business.

765
00:34:17.720 --> 00:34:19.880
So I'm running all this revenue through one location.

766
00:34:19.880 --> 00:34:22.680
Like a location that was meant for a gym, which made no sense.

767
00:34:22.680 --> 00:34:23.680
Yeah.

768
00:34:23.680 --> 00:34:26.800
And so rightfully so, they were like, this is suspicious.

769
00:34:26.800 --> 00:34:28.080
We're going to stop it.

770
00:34:28.080 --> 00:34:29.520
And so they held all the funds.

771
00:34:29.520 --> 00:34:32.600
And so I didn't get the money.

772
00:34:32.600 --> 00:34:37.160
And so I had at this point exactly $23,000 left in everything.

773
00:34:37.160 --> 00:34:39.880
I just remember each of the moments, $23,000 left.

774
00:34:39.880 --> 00:34:42.800
I owed him $22,000 in commissions for sales

775
00:34:42.800 --> 00:34:44.280
that I never got.

776
00:34:44.280 --> 00:34:46.560
And so I didn't want to give myself a chance to think about it.

777
00:34:46.560 --> 00:34:49.320
And so I wired him $22,000 and I had $1,000 left

778
00:34:49.320 --> 00:34:51.080
who was due to December 2016.

779
00:34:51.080 --> 00:34:52.720
So if everyone was like, see what we're doing.

780
00:34:52.720 --> 00:34:55.640
That was 2016 December, $1,000.

781
00:34:55.640 --> 00:34:58.720
And so I still had my credit card from all my gyms.

782
00:34:58.720 --> 00:35:00.080
Now even though I didn't have them anymore,

783
00:35:00.080 --> 00:35:02.600
I still had the card and the MX hadn't changed my limit yet.

784
00:35:02.600 --> 00:35:04.720
And so I had $100,000 on my card.

785
00:35:04.720 --> 00:35:08.640
And so two days later, I pushed the ads life for six sales

786
00:35:08.640 --> 00:35:11.720
guys to be launching six different gyms in areas.

787
00:35:11.720 --> 00:35:13.920
I didn't have a way to process money.

788
00:35:13.920 --> 00:35:17.880
But I had a way to spend, it's a terrible combination.

789
00:35:17.880 --> 00:35:22.440
And so I'm spending $3,300 a day, $3,300 a day.

790
00:35:22.440 --> 00:35:22.960
Wow.

791
00:35:22.960 --> 00:35:25.280
I had 1,000 total.

792
00:35:25.280 --> 00:35:26.880
So by lunch, I was now broke.

793
00:35:26.880 --> 00:35:29.120
And by dinner, I was 2,000 in debt.

794
00:35:29.120 --> 00:35:33.000
And that was rental cars, airfare, hotel rooms, commissions,

795
00:35:33.000 --> 00:35:35.120
ad spend, everything for six guys.

796
00:35:35.120 --> 00:35:37.200
And to be fair, I did not treat these guys well

797
00:35:37.200 --> 00:35:39.880
from a, like they were saying at the cheapest motel,

798
00:35:39.880 --> 00:35:41.560
I was like, just deal with it.

799
00:35:41.560 --> 00:35:43.080
Get McDonald's, I don't care.

800
00:35:43.120 --> 00:35:45.840
And so at the end of the month, I had all these contracts

801
00:35:45.840 --> 00:35:47.080
and I still couldn't run the money,

802
00:35:47.080 --> 00:35:48.880
called everything everyone I couldn't finally got,

803
00:35:48.880 --> 00:35:50.760
I got a high risk processor.

804
00:35:50.760 --> 00:35:51.800
So if you don't know what that is,

805
00:35:51.800 --> 00:35:53.040
like when you go to Chipotle,

806
00:35:53.040 --> 00:35:55.200
they have a normal bank that processes their money.

807
00:35:55.200 --> 00:35:57.640
But if you, you see like online gambling and like porn

808
00:35:57.640 --> 00:36:00.960
and things and stuff, like they go to high risk processors

809
00:36:00.960 --> 00:36:03.680
who pay way higher fees and they have all these crazy terms.

810
00:36:03.680 --> 00:36:06.440
And so I got one that said, sure, we'll process where you,

811
00:36:06.440 --> 00:36:08.240
but we get 10% of all revenue.

812
00:36:08.240 --> 00:36:09.880
Boy, yeah, that was the fee.

813
00:36:09.880 --> 00:36:11.440
And at this point, I was so desperate, I was like fine,

814
00:36:11.560 --> 00:36:13.440
just take it like I just need to process money.

815
00:36:13.440 --> 00:36:16.560
And so I got a $50,000 limit, mind you I'm $2,300 a day,

816
00:36:16.560 --> 00:36:18.160
if you add it up, that does not work.

817
00:36:18.160 --> 00:36:21.360
So I do $50,000 on the last day of January.

818
00:36:21.360 --> 00:36:23.120
And the guy who set it up and was like,

819
00:36:23.120 --> 00:36:25.320
hey, good news is it's, it's 15 months.

820
00:36:25.320 --> 00:36:27.080
So it starts per calendar month.

821
00:36:27.080 --> 00:36:28.840
So on the first of February, we can run another 50.

822
00:36:28.840 --> 00:36:30.920
Okay, so I did 50 and then 50.

823
00:36:30.920 --> 00:36:34.720
And that hundred grand covered my credit card bill,

824
00:36:34.720 --> 00:36:36.280
like to the dollar.

825
00:36:36.280 --> 00:36:39.560
And so for everyone who's tracking at home, I'm still broke.

826
00:36:40.560 --> 00:36:43.840
And so then I got two more online for 50 and 50 and then like,

827
00:36:43.840 --> 00:36:45.400
you know, and then they bought my limit on the other one,

828
00:36:45.400 --> 00:36:49.360
whatever. And so that next month, we did 200 something thousand in sales.

829
00:36:49.360 --> 00:36:51.520
And I made like 30,000 dollars in profit.

830
00:36:51.520 --> 00:36:56.520
I was like, I'm hungry, but then the next month,

831
00:36:58.280 --> 00:37:00.320
the next month, the gyms that we launched,

832
00:37:00.320 --> 00:37:01.800
the six gyms that we launched in January,

833
00:37:01.800 --> 00:37:03.600
and then we launched another six in February.

834
00:37:03.600 --> 00:37:07.960
I lay latash in the shoulder because I'm thinking I'm like entrepreneurial

835
00:37:08.000 --> 00:37:09.880
genie. I'm like, I'm a phoenix baby.

836
00:37:09.880 --> 00:37:13.160
Like you know, I mean, I come back and say she tasked me on the shoulder.

837
00:37:13.160 --> 00:37:14.600
And I'm like, what? What is this?

838
00:37:14.600 --> 00:37:18.640
My love, you know, and she just spins her laptop towards me.

839
00:37:18.640 --> 00:37:19.720
And she's like, look at this.

840
00:37:19.720 --> 00:37:21.320
And I was like, what am I looking at?

841
00:37:21.320 --> 00:37:25.160
And it was our bank account and it was all these negative transactions.

842
00:37:25.160 --> 00:37:27.920
And each one of them was as big as as the rent that we now were able to

843
00:37:27.920 --> 00:37:29.920
afford. My name is like a thousand bucks.

844
00:37:30.280 --> 00:37:34.120
And I'm just seeing like 500 500 500 500 300 500 like all the way down.

845
00:37:34.120 --> 00:37:36.480
She just kept scrolling and scrolling and scrolling.

846
00:37:36.560 --> 00:37:38.040
And I was like, what is going on?

847
00:37:38.560 --> 00:37:41.040
And she said, hey, well, you know, those gyms that we were selling the

848
00:37:41.040 --> 00:37:44.120
memberships at, I have a cell phone for all of them to call me for support issues,

849
00:37:44.120 --> 00:37:47.080
whatever. And all these people were saying that this gym owner stood up on a

850
00:37:47.080 --> 00:37:50.320
chair and because we had sold too many people and do his gym and he just told

851
00:37:50.320 --> 00:37:52.560
him on a refund. He said, just refund to go home.

852
00:37:52.560 --> 00:37:55.120
I don't want to deal with this because it wasn't, it wasn't their money.

853
00:37:55.440 --> 00:37:57.200
You know, I mean, like the deal was we would collect cash.

854
00:37:57.200 --> 00:37:59.080
They would serve as the customers and they got the back end.

855
00:37:59.440 --> 00:38:04.160
But some guys like when you have a 70 person gym and you take it to 270 in 30

856
00:38:04.160 --> 00:38:05.640
days, they can handle it.

857
00:38:05.640 --> 00:38:07.400
Yeah, you just triple quadruple their gym.

858
00:38:07.920 --> 00:38:10.200
And so again, I was an inexperienced entrepreneur.

859
00:38:10.200 --> 00:38:12.320
I didn't know that. And so I was like, just deal with it.

860
00:38:12.320 --> 00:38:14.880
You have all these customers, but they didn't, they didn't collect any revenue.

861
00:38:14.880 --> 00:38:16.880
So like, they was just incurring costs to do this.

862
00:38:17.080 --> 00:38:18.240
I understand a little bit more now.

863
00:38:18.720 --> 00:38:20.440
And that was like $50,000.

864
00:38:20.720 --> 00:38:22.840
And I was like, I was, yeah, and then darn.

865
00:38:23.200 --> 00:38:27.200
And then two days later, another wave hit and it was a different situation where

866
00:38:27.200 --> 00:38:30.960
the guy saw that we made $40,000, $50,000 from his gym.

867
00:38:31.680 --> 00:38:34.480
And the average gym owner for perspective takes some $36,000 a year.

868
00:38:34.560 --> 00:38:36.360
So when you see that crossfit on the street, they're not killing it.

869
00:38:36.360 --> 00:38:37.120
They're probably getting killed.

870
00:38:37.480 --> 00:38:40.760
He saw us some, you know, some kids from the internet take out 50 grand from this

871
00:38:40.760 --> 00:38:42.680
place in a month and he didn't make that last year.

872
00:38:43.080 --> 00:38:45.600
And so he was like, Hey, everybody just son out with them.

873
00:38:46.040 --> 00:38:48.920
Refund through them and I'll let you do it through me for half the price.

874
00:38:48.920 --> 00:38:50.560
Oh boy. Yeah.

875
00:38:50.920 --> 00:38:54.280
And so now, in my view, I had already had all these processing issues.

876
00:38:54.280 --> 00:38:56.480
So I'm freaking, oh my god, we're going to lose processing again.

877
00:38:56.480 --> 00:38:59.120
And I will tell you this, when you don't have the ability to process money,

878
00:38:59.640 --> 00:39:03.320
it is very hard to do business because like, I couldn't sell my way out of

879
00:39:03.320 --> 00:39:04.320
not being a process money.

880
00:39:04.320 --> 00:39:05.240
There's nothing I could do.

881
00:39:06.320 --> 00:39:11.640
And so I now have to sum out and it ended up being $150,000 in total.

882
00:39:12.000 --> 00:39:15.240
I was like, I have to come 150 grand in 30 days in profit.

883
00:39:16.200 --> 00:39:16.720
In profit.

884
00:39:16.720 --> 00:39:21.160
And this is after just going through after losing it off from the theft thing

885
00:39:21.160 --> 00:39:23.800
and then after losing again, from processing thing.

886
00:39:23.800 --> 00:39:25.480
And then now we're doing it again.

887
00:39:25.480 --> 00:39:30.000
So so here I am and I have to figure out about 150 grand in 30 days.

888
00:39:30.040 --> 00:39:33.280
And so I'm just like staring at the screen and I just try to like brainstorm.

889
00:39:33.280 --> 00:39:35.200
I was like, okay, what if we sell everybody supplements?

890
00:39:35.200 --> 00:39:36.600
What if we, you know, I'm just thinking.

891
00:39:36.600 --> 00:39:40.960
And so Laila, we're sitting, you know, I got up earlier, it was really getting up.

892
00:39:40.960 --> 00:39:41.680
I really can sleep.

893
00:39:41.680 --> 00:39:44.920
But she gets up, you know, the next morning or two monies later and she starts

894
00:39:44.920 --> 00:39:47.920
working on our laptop and she had this little side business of personal training

895
00:39:47.920 --> 00:39:48.960
clients that she was doing online.

896
00:39:48.960 --> 00:39:50.520
She had transitioned to his personal trainer before.

897
00:39:51.160 --> 00:39:52.840
And so all of a sudden, I like starting to get it.

898
00:39:52.840 --> 00:39:54.040
So, okay, how much money do you make from that?

899
00:39:54.040 --> 00:39:56.240
She's like, I don't know, like four grand a month and she's getting defensive.

900
00:39:56.240 --> 00:39:58.560
She's like, she's like, hey, it pays for the rent and our food.

901
00:39:58.880 --> 00:40:01.480
You know, I mean, like you're big honest, but in her ideas, like you just make a lot

902
00:40:01.480 --> 00:40:02.200
and then lose a lot.

903
00:40:02.200 --> 00:40:04.720
Like ours pays money, you know, like he puts food on sale.

904
00:40:05.080 --> 00:40:07.440
I was like, no, no, no, but I was like, but how much time does it take you?

905
00:40:07.440 --> 00:40:08.560
She's like, I don't know, two hours a week.

906
00:40:08.560 --> 00:40:09.640
And I was like, you make four of that.

907
00:40:09.640 --> 00:40:10.840
So I was like, that's not a bad gig.

908
00:40:10.840 --> 00:40:11.600
And that's it.

909
00:40:11.600 --> 00:40:12.800
There's no other costumes like no.

910
00:40:13.400 --> 00:40:14.480
I was like, I got it.

911
00:40:15.240 --> 00:40:18.280
So what if I start running ads and we'll just sell the right to consumer?

912
00:40:18.280 --> 00:40:20.480
We already know how this whole gym thing hasn't worked out.

913
00:40:20.480 --> 00:40:22.000
Like let's just sell weight loss.

914
00:40:22.920 --> 00:40:24.720
And so she was like, is this really what we're going to do?

915
00:40:24.720 --> 00:40:25.640
And I was like, yeah, let's do it.

916
00:40:26.360 --> 00:40:31.000
And so I built the best sales letter of my entire life, started running ads to it.

917
00:40:31.120 --> 00:40:34.200
And she started taking phone calls and we started doing a thousand bucks a day.

918
00:40:34.280 --> 00:40:35.960
And it's all profit is digital products.

919
00:40:36.560 --> 00:40:37.760
And so I'm like, holy crap.

920
00:40:37.920 --> 00:40:38.280
Okay.

921
00:40:38.360 --> 00:40:40.240
Well, that this is kind of working.

922
00:40:40.240 --> 00:40:43.080
Now if I have my, this point, we had eight sales guys because I had to start

923
00:40:43.080 --> 00:40:45.520
out selling the refunds to cover the refunds.

924
00:40:46.560 --> 00:40:47.680
Yeah, it was terrible.

925
00:40:47.680 --> 00:40:50.360
And did you still have first six friends working for US time?

926
00:40:50.360 --> 00:40:50.560
Okay.

927
00:40:50.560 --> 00:40:51.480
And we added two more.

928
00:40:51.480 --> 00:40:51.720
Okay.

929
00:40:51.920 --> 00:40:54.000
And so she started doing a thousand bucks a day.

930
00:40:54.000 --> 00:40:57.040
And I was like, wait, if we get to eight guys, they could eat two thousand a day.

931
00:40:57.040 --> 00:40:58.960
It's eight thousand a day with basically no costs.

932
00:40:58.960 --> 00:41:00.880
I was like, that's 240 minus commission.

933
00:41:00.880 --> 00:41:02.800
So I was like, we could, we might could get out of this.

934
00:41:04.000 --> 00:41:06.720
Just to clarify, how are you doing the one K a day?

935
00:41:06.840 --> 00:41:07.040
Yeah.

936
00:41:07.040 --> 00:41:10.960
So we're running ads to a sales page that was like, hey, we're doing a 16 week transformation.

937
00:41:10.960 --> 00:41:12.040
It's going to be in transformation.

938
00:41:12.040 --> 00:41:13.840
I made it her brand because they lost on her pound.

939
00:41:13.840 --> 00:41:15.800
So I had all these pictures like had this whole story anyway.

940
00:41:16.200 --> 00:41:19.360
And so we just, we went from there to just a scheduling, got a scheduling link.

941
00:41:19.360 --> 00:41:20.920
And then a group and she would post the cats.

942
00:41:20.960 --> 00:41:21.880
Yep, a Facebook ads.

943
00:41:21.880 --> 00:41:24.840
And then she would post content in a group and anybody who comments that you're trying to

944
00:41:24.840 --> 00:41:27.920
call with just like, just normal, you know, online hustling.

945
00:41:28.520 --> 00:41:29.360
That was the plan.

946
00:41:29.360 --> 00:41:32.520
And so I was like, okay, well, I'm going to call the gyms up that are supposed to launch

947
00:41:32.520 --> 00:41:35.840
next month and let them know that we're not going to be flying out and talk

948
00:41:35.840 --> 00:41:38.360
while the first guy up and I tell him the whole story.

949
00:41:38.360 --> 00:41:40.040
I was like, hey, we're not doing any more blah, blah, blah.

950
00:41:40.080 --> 00:41:44.320
And he said, dude, you launched my buddy's gym and you crushed it for him.

951
00:41:44.440 --> 00:41:45.160
I know you can do this.

952
00:41:45.160 --> 00:41:47.120
And I need this. I just, I just matched all my credit cards.

953
00:41:47.120 --> 00:41:48.160
I refinanced my house for this gym.

954
00:41:48.160 --> 00:41:50.200
Like I really need, like I just need customers.

955
00:41:51.720 --> 00:41:54.760
And honestly, at this point in my life, I was at such a low point that I said,

956
00:41:55.120 --> 00:41:57.120
I don't have a lot of empathy right now.

957
00:41:57.120 --> 00:41:58.400
My empathy thing was low.

958
00:41:58.880 --> 00:42:01.880
But anyways, what ended up coming out was I was like, listen, man, I can't do it.

959
00:42:02.200 --> 00:42:05.080
But he said, can you just show me how to do it instead if you can't fly out here?

960
00:42:06.200 --> 00:42:08.200
And I was like, well, I'll show you.

961
00:42:08.320 --> 00:42:12.160
But if you can't close them, but I'm not flying out, they said, it's fine.

962
00:42:12.200 --> 00:42:13.640
And so you said, well, how much?

963
00:42:13.960 --> 00:42:17.440
And so I said, the highest number I could think of at the time.

964
00:42:17.440 --> 00:42:19.040
Because I wanted him to say no, because that thing was working.

965
00:42:19.040 --> 00:42:19.880
I just wanted to do that.

966
00:42:20.280 --> 00:42:21.760
So I said $6,000.

967
00:42:22.760 --> 00:42:23.720
And he's like, six guy.

968
00:42:24.240 --> 00:42:25.560
I was like, yeah, and he's like, oh, done.

969
00:42:27.120 --> 00:42:32.360
And I, I remember just sharing the phone and then like pushing my job back into my,

970
00:42:32.360 --> 00:42:34.280
I was like, oh, what card do you want to use?

971
00:42:35.040 --> 00:42:36.720
Start with a four, you know, like I start going through that.

972
00:42:37.080 --> 00:42:41.000
And I wrote it down to like some napkin and then Layla comes back in 15 minutes later.

973
00:42:41.280 --> 00:42:44.120
She's like, I just got another one for 500 bucks, whatever we were some of the thing for.

974
00:42:44.560 --> 00:42:48.920
And I was like, I just sold our whole way of opening gems for $6,000.

975
00:42:49.280 --> 00:42:49.880
She's like, what?

976
00:42:50.440 --> 00:42:51.560
I thought we were doing way lost.

977
00:42:52.160 --> 00:42:53.280
I was like, yeah, I know.

978
00:42:53.440 --> 00:42:54.680
Maybe gyms is the right thing.

979
00:42:54.680 --> 00:42:55.600
We're just doing it wrong.

980
00:42:56.640 --> 00:42:57.880
So you sold him the blueprint.

981
00:42:58.240 --> 00:43:01.560
Yeah, basically all the ads, all the landing pages, the scripts, the show,

982
00:43:01.560 --> 00:43:03.600
because I already built all that stuff internally for my team.

983
00:43:03.600 --> 00:43:05.440
So like, everything was done.

984
00:43:05.440 --> 00:43:07.400
The only thing that wasn't done was how to run the ads.

985
00:43:07.400 --> 00:43:11.200
But like I had a training for the gym owner so that they could like process the people

986
00:43:11.200 --> 00:43:13.640
and like give them nutrition at all plans over a white label.

987
00:43:14.040 --> 00:43:15.040
Everything was done.

988
00:43:15.040 --> 00:43:16.360
I just didn't have the ads part.

989
00:43:16.360 --> 00:43:19.000
So I just basically filmed an ad training on how I'd ran the ads.

990
00:43:19.000 --> 00:43:23.600
And I'd let them use videos of me because I knew those videos converted the best in every market.

991
00:43:24.120 --> 00:43:26.440
And so, uh, you know, the guy was like, when do I get it?

992
00:43:26.440 --> 00:43:28.600
And I was like, uh, Monday and it was a Friday.

993
00:43:28.600 --> 00:43:30.080
So I had to like put all this stuff together.

994
00:43:30.600 --> 00:43:33.560
And so tone Layla between lunch and like between mouthfuls.

995
00:43:33.800 --> 00:43:37.320
And uh, that next Monday or so over the weekend, I told her I was like,

996
00:43:37.320 --> 00:43:38.760
I'm going to call these other guys up.

997
00:43:38.760 --> 00:43:42.920
And so that Friday, I finished calling seven more guys and, uh,

998
00:43:43.640 --> 00:43:49.960
did $60,000 in sales that day, 16, 60, 60, yeah, one day.

999
00:43:50.440 --> 00:43:52.360
And that was the day my life changed.

1000
00:43:52.360 --> 00:43:55.640
Well, and so that was when I was like, holy shit.

1001
00:43:56.440 --> 00:43:58.200
It's like, this is working.

1002
00:43:58.200 --> 00:44:03.000
And I saw that I could get the 150,000 that I needed to just cover the bill on the refunds.

1003
00:44:03.560 --> 00:44:05.320
And so she's like, well, what's the plan now?

1004
00:44:05.320 --> 00:44:07.000
I was like, well, we did 30 launches.

1005
00:44:07.000 --> 00:44:11.960
I'll just call all those guys up to call all those guys up over the next, you know, week or so.

1006
00:44:11.960 --> 00:44:15.400
And we ended up doing like, I want to say high 200,000 in sales.

1007
00:44:15.400 --> 00:44:19.080
But of this 100% margin product.

1008
00:44:19.880 --> 00:44:24.040
And then from there, each one of those guys that used our whole blueprint,

1009
00:44:24.040 --> 00:44:26.040
because they were now making the money instead of me.

1010
00:44:26.040 --> 00:44:27.240
And they didn't have all the costs I did.

1011
00:44:27.240 --> 00:44:28.760
I had to fly somebody out there at hotels.

1012
00:44:28.760 --> 00:44:30.040
I was like, they didn't have any of that.

1013
00:44:30.120 --> 00:44:32.360
They just like brand the ads.

1014
00:44:32.360 --> 00:44:33.160
And then they'd make money.

1015
00:44:33.160 --> 00:44:37.240
And the average gym collected over 30,000 dollars in new cash in the first 30 days.

1016
00:44:37.240 --> 00:44:37.480
Wow.

1017
00:44:37.480 --> 00:44:38.520
I mean, that's how I did it.

1018
00:44:38.520 --> 00:44:40.440
That's how I was able to fund all these launches so like it worked.

1019
00:44:41.000 --> 00:44:44.680
So they would get a 30-to-one return on advertising upfront before the back end.

1020
00:44:45.320 --> 00:44:45.880
That's massive.

1021
00:44:45.880 --> 00:44:47.400
That's how I open all the tunes for free.

1022
00:44:48.280 --> 00:44:51.240
And so these guys, they loved me.

1023
00:44:53.400 --> 00:44:56.040
Do you ever want to know how to like make friends and business make people money?

1024
00:44:56.040 --> 00:44:57.560
And they were like, what else you got?

1025
00:44:58.040 --> 00:45:02.760
And I was like, oh, well, I have this three-year thing that's a licensing which shows you

1026
00:45:02.760 --> 00:45:05.560
everything else about how to run a gym, not just getting clients in the door, but like,

1027
00:45:05.560 --> 00:45:09.240
how I structure semi-private, how I do high-tickets stuff, how I run the class more efficiently.

1028
00:45:09.240 --> 00:45:11.400
Like my whole model, not just the front end.

1029
00:45:12.040 --> 00:45:15.160
And that's when the word of mouth just went nuts.

1030
00:45:15.160 --> 00:45:16.040
And what year was this?

1031
00:45:16.040 --> 00:45:17.400
This is 2016.

1032
00:45:17.400 --> 00:45:20.440
So December 16 is when I lost everything for the second time.

1033
00:45:21.480 --> 00:45:23.880
And this is now like April-ish of 2017.

1034
00:45:23.880 --> 00:45:26.600
So all this happens in like four or five months.

1035
00:45:27.160 --> 00:45:29.960
Mind you, the period where I just want to go see Laila's parents.

1036
00:45:29.960 --> 00:45:34.440
My mother, I just got admitted to the hospital and I'd gotten into DUI head on collision

1037
00:45:34.440 --> 00:45:35.880
also in that same time period.

1038
00:45:35.880 --> 00:45:36.760
Oh wow, rough spot.

1039
00:45:37.320 --> 00:45:39.160
But here we are, April-ish.

1040
00:45:39.160 --> 00:45:41.000
And then it just took off like a rocket.

1041
00:45:41.000 --> 00:45:46.520
We did 480, the next one, then 780, then a million, then one two, then one five, then one

1042
00:45:46.520 --> 00:45:48.280
eight, then two, then two two, then two four.

1043
00:45:48.280 --> 00:45:49.560
And we kept going from undoing.

1044
00:45:49.560 --> 00:45:50.120
Yeah, from off.

1045
00:45:50.760 --> 00:45:55.560
So the first school calendar year, we did 26 million top lines, 17 million in take-home.

1046
00:45:55.560 --> 00:45:59.640
And I had been looking at bankruptcy lawyers 18 months earlier.

1047
00:45:59.640 --> 00:46:00.120
Wow.

1048
00:46:00.120 --> 00:46:02.120
And then like 18 months before that.

1049
00:46:02.120 --> 00:46:06.440
And this is selling the blueprint to how to run a gym from start to finish.

1050
00:46:06.440 --> 00:46:09.160
Yeah, we turned into, basically, it was basically just a licensing program.

1051
00:46:09.160 --> 00:46:10.520
So we just licensed all.

1052
00:46:10.520 --> 00:46:13.720
Because what we would do is we would test out ads in every market.

1053
00:46:13.720 --> 00:46:17.720
And so I'd spend like 50 grand testing ads and 10 or 20 representative markets.

1054
00:46:17.720 --> 00:46:18.760
Find the winners.

1055
00:46:18.760 --> 00:46:20.760
And we already had the backend system down.

1056
00:46:20.760 --> 00:46:23.720
So we would basically just license these winning ads.

1057
00:46:23.800 --> 00:46:26.600
Because one of the most expensive things when you're running a local business is ads that

1058
00:46:26.600 --> 00:46:27.080
don't work.

1059
00:46:27.080 --> 00:46:27.480
Yes.

1060
00:46:27.480 --> 00:46:29.560
And so every one of them is just like a home run ad.

1061
00:46:29.560 --> 00:46:30.760
Then you just print.

1062
00:46:30.760 --> 00:46:32.680
And then we already had the money printing system.

1063
00:46:32.680 --> 00:46:34.280
We seem to make sure that they had leads.

1064
00:46:34.280 --> 00:46:36.440
And so that's what we did.

1065
00:46:36.440 --> 00:46:38.280
And so it was incredibly high margin.

1066
00:46:38.280 --> 00:46:40.280
I mean, very high margin.

1067
00:46:40.280 --> 00:46:40.520
Yeah.

1068
00:46:40.520 --> 00:46:43.080
That was when you talk about like, what was the big clicking point?

1069
00:46:43.080 --> 00:46:45.480
Getting my first gyms to start working.

1070
00:46:45.480 --> 00:46:47.000
I made some money.

1071
00:46:47.000 --> 00:46:50.520
And then I went up into a higher leverage business, you know, vehicle,

1072
00:46:50.520 --> 00:46:54.120
which licensing and media just has higher margins than brick and mortar stores.

1073
00:46:54.840 --> 00:46:56.520
Not that there's anything wrong with brick and mortar stores.

1074
00:46:56.520 --> 00:46:57.960
Because you're really good returns on capital there.

1075
00:46:57.960 --> 00:47:00.920
Like we're heavily invested in chains person like because I like brick and mortar.

1076
00:47:00.920 --> 00:47:02.200
I just I love the model.

1077
00:47:02.200 --> 00:47:04.120
But when we did this, it yeah, it took off.

1078
00:47:04.120 --> 00:47:07.320
And then you know, the next year we grew more and we started a supplement line.

1079
00:47:07.320 --> 00:47:09.720
And that did like 20th first year.

1080
00:47:09.720 --> 00:47:11.400
Because we sold through this distribution based on gyms.

1081
00:47:11.400 --> 00:47:12.680
Because I had a supplement selling system.

1082
00:47:12.680 --> 00:47:14.600
I knew how to sell supplements than gyms because I did it.

1083
00:47:14.600 --> 00:47:19.400
And so it was just, you know, when I had that rock bottom moment or wish one,

1084
00:47:19.480 --> 00:47:21.320
when I had the moment where I was like, I just lost everything.

1085
00:47:21.320 --> 00:47:25.160
I hadn't lost the skills and the education that I had learned in that process.

1086
00:47:25.160 --> 00:47:27.080
And so that was the thing that was valuable.

1087
00:47:27.080 --> 00:47:31.640
And so that was a really good perspective shift for like, and I should have known better.

1088
00:47:31.640 --> 00:47:32.920
Because my father's Iranian.

1089
00:47:32.920 --> 00:47:34.680
And so he fled during the revolution.

1090
00:47:35.240 --> 00:47:38.760
And he was always big on education, which most of our grandparents are.

1091
00:47:38.760 --> 00:47:41.960
And he he always said this to me and I still take it with me was said,

1092
00:47:41.960 --> 00:47:44.040
education is the only thing that no one contacts you out of.

1093
00:47:44.040 --> 00:47:46.520
You can't lose in a divorce and the government can't take it from you.

1094
00:47:46.520 --> 00:47:48.360
Because we had had everything obviously confiscated.

1095
00:47:48.440 --> 00:47:49.880
Because that's how the revolution works.

1096
00:47:49.880 --> 00:47:52.440
By the way, they're like, that's not your house.

1097
00:47:52.440 --> 00:47:53.160
That's our house.

1098
00:47:53.160 --> 00:47:53.800
That's not your money.

1099
00:47:53.800 --> 00:47:54.600
That's our money.

1100
00:47:54.600 --> 00:47:56.040
And so he had nothing.

1101
00:47:56.040 --> 00:47:58.600
You know, I mean, when he came here and so, but he was a doctor.

1102
00:47:58.600 --> 00:47:58.920
Yes.

1103
00:47:58.920 --> 00:48:02.520
And so he was able to start a new in the US without being able to speak English.

1104
00:48:02.520 --> 00:48:05.320
Again, that kind of empathy thing of, you know, I think what my dad was able to do

1105
00:48:05.960 --> 00:48:08.920
in the US coming much later in life, you know,

1106
00:48:08.920 --> 00:48:11.160
not even being able to speak the language.

1107
00:48:11.160 --> 00:48:13.960
And then becoming a doctor and he started his own private practice.

1108
00:48:13.960 --> 00:48:15.960
In some ways, it's more impressive than, you know,

1109
00:48:15.960 --> 00:48:18.600
what we've been able to accomplish because we got that head start.

1110
00:48:18.600 --> 00:48:20.280
And so I get child of luck.

1111
00:48:20.280 --> 00:48:21.960
But that was the gym world story.

1112
00:48:23.800 --> 00:48:26.520
Well, that's an incredibly powerful story because there are so many,

1113
00:48:27.160 --> 00:48:29.240
there are so many lessons in there.

1114
00:48:29.960 --> 00:48:34.360
And I think something that's so important about that and you kind of touched on it is that

1115
00:48:35.640 --> 00:48:38.840
if you go through this kind of process and ups and downs,

1116
00:48:39.320 --> 00:48:45.240
you develop both a skill set and a mentality that you simply cannot shortcut your way through.

1117
00:48:45.960 --> 00:48:51.480
And it's interesting because you are forced to innovate many, many times, right?

1118
00:48:51.480 --> 00:48:55.240
Like if it were not for these, it sucks that these financial situations out.

1119
00:48:55.240 --> 00:48:56.120
Like that sucks, man.

1120
00:48:56.120 --> 00:48:57.720
Like I can't even imagine that.

1121
00:48:57.720 --> 00:49:02.120
Like I've taken some else before, but like that completely sucks to be going from doing well

1122
00:49:02.920 --> 00:49:07.320
to being broke, to doing well, to being broken, right?

1123
00:49:07.320 --> 00:49:10.120
And then you've got this pressure and you know, okay, I need to come up like,

1124
00:49:10.760 --> 00:49:11.800
I mean, talk about pressure.

1125
00:49:11.800 --> 00:49:14.680
Okay, I need to come up with 150 grand in the next 30 days.

1126
00:49:15.480 --> 00:49:18.280
Anyone listening, imagine putting yourself in that situation.

1127
00:49:18.280 --> 00:49:23.160
You've got 30 days to make hundreds like your mind is going to be like

1128
00:49:24.120 --> 00:49:27.960
spinning like every single tactic, angle, skill set you have.

1129
00:49:27.960 --> 00:49:32.360
It's like, all right, I need to find a way to make this happen and you made it happen.

1130
00:49:33.000 --> 00:49:35.480
And without that type of pressure, I don't know.

1131
00:49:35.480 --> 00:49:37.560
Like the pressure forces the innovation.

1132
00:49:37.560 --> 00:49:40.200
So as much as it sucks, it's powerful.

1133
00:49:40.200 --> 00:49:42.920
And with everything that you go on and do now and in the future,

1134
00:49:43.480 --> 00:49:44.520
you've got that.

1135
00:49:44.520 --> 00:49:45.640
It can't be taken away.

1136
00:49:45.640 --> 00:49:46.680
It can't be taken from you.

1137
00:49:46.680 --> 00:49:49.400
I mean, if you see some of the ways that, you know, I mean,

1138
00:49:49.400 --> 00:49:51.960
like I love to see people have success in anything now, right?

1139
00:49:51.960 --> 00:49:56.920
But now in this age of the internet, we do live in a time where there are some,

1140
00:49:57.720 --> 00:50:01.800
there are some kind of quick and easy ways to make a lot of money that,

1141
00:50:02.680 --> 00:50:05.160
yes, they require you pulling the trigger and being proactive.

1142
00:50:05.720 --> 00:50:07.240
But there's also some luck in that, right?

1143
00:50:07.240 --> 00:50:11.320
You throw a thousand dollars into some meme crypto coin, right?

1144
00:50:11.400 --> 00:50:16.120
And it blows up and you've turned your thousand into a couple million and you sell

1145
00:50:16.120 --> 00:50:17.720
and awesome, you've made a few million.

1146
00:50:18.280 --> 00:50:21.880
The problem with that is you didn't really learn anything, right?

1147
00:50:21.880 --> 00:50:25.800
So if you were to lose that money and go back to where you were,

1148
00:50:26.360 --> 00:50:30.520
if you've built up a business or you've got a skillset or a doctor or whatever it is,

1149
00:50:30.520 --> 00:50:34.120
you know, you can build back up from zero, but in those type of situations,

1150
00:50:34.120 --> 00:50:38.440
you're a little bit screwed because you never, you didn't put in that time and effort

1151
00:50:38.440 --> 00:50:42.680
and develop those skills and you know, maybe you can get lucky again and you might find the

1152
00:50:42.680 --> 00:50:53.000
next one that's going to do a thousand X or a 10,000 X, but maybe you can't.