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most people who are like in the beginning of the game, like you don't have a passion yet.

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Most of you, like most people aren't like, man, I just love this one thing.

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But everybody has shit loads of pain. Like that, whatever it is, the first

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rule of entrepreneurship is use what you got. And so like, if that's what you got, then burn that.

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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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customer, and how to keep them longer. And the many failures and lessons we have learned

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along the way. I hope you enjoy and subscribe.

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Without further delay, I've been telling you guys we had a big guest coming on the show. And

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this is one of my favorite guests that we've had on the show. We haven't even done the show yet.

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But this is a guy that I've become friendly with and we become friends over, I don't know what,

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the last year or so. Very, very, very brilliant man. Somebody who's been very successful in business

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and life and somebody that I'm excited to have a conversation with, please welcome to the show,

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Mr. Alex Hermozzi. Thank you so much to the intro. It's great to see you, dude.

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I'm pumped to be here. Hopefully I can live up to the intro. That's always the goal.

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Look, dude, all you got to do is be you. That's it. You know, out of all the people, and this is

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real shit, like all the people that I have watched on the internet over the last decade or so,

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there's only a few of them that I'm really like, okay, this guy really, really does understand

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how to build a business. There's a lot of coaches. There's a lot of pseudo knowledge out there.

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There's a lot of Hucksters. There's a lot of people who are great coaches, not great operators.

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But, dude, when I watch your content and there's a few other guys out there and some of them

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really don't have a big of followings, it's very apparent that you're very, very, very intelligent

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when it comes to business. And, dude, I'm just excited to have a conversation about it.

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So, I'm stoked. Yeah. So, what are we going to talk about, dude?

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Let's start with your story, dude. Like, how did you, like, how, because you and I, we've talked

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about all kinds of different things via text, you know, we talk about chat GTP, you talk about GPD,

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we talked about different things going on in business, but, you know, I've never really got

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to sit down and talk to you about your story. So, this is the perfect time to talk about it.

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It was wild. Yeah. It's been, it's been, well, I'll give the quick the TLDR.

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I was a gym owner in Southern California. So, I had a consulting job. I did defense contracting,

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space cyber intelligence through a sub under Booz Allen. Hated that job, actually. Hated it so

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much that I ended up quitting and driving across the country, not telling anyone until I was halfway

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there because my dad was going to talk me out of it and be like, hey, you don't need to, you know,

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like, let's just follow the path that we had. Yeah. And he was doing it because he just

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want to look out for my best, but I didn't want to do that. And so I showed up in California with no

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plan, showed up at a gym owners gym and was like, hey, man, can you teach me? He was like, I don't

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know, like, why are you here? I got shit to do. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Slap that his place. How old were

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you at this time? I was 22. Okay. Yeah. So, I, I graduated a year early from a school in Tennessee.

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And then that, that way I kind of got to jumpstart my career, save my extra, you know, money,

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and then I had about 50,000 dollars saved up when I was 22 to start a business. And I want to start

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a gym. And so those, because I was in the fitness and I hated everything else. And so that was like,

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I guess I'll just do this. From there, I spent 12 weeks with that guy. He started work at 4 a.m.

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and work until 4 p.m. 4 to 4 with his shift. And so I did that. And then I also stayed at the gym

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after that. Learned a little bit of the ropes started Jim and Huntington Beach. Didn't have enough

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money for both. Slopped on the floor there because, you know, I could only pay one rent.

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I get it. It's very similar to how I got started, dude. Very similar. And it was by chance. I went

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to a weekend to workshop two weeks before I started the gym. And it was a guy who's teaching

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something called Facebookettes. It's just 2013. So I was like, I mean, I was like stroke of luck,

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crazy, you know, coincidence. And I was able to run Facebookettes to get like my first 25 members

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in the gym. And we were able to grow by 5,000 a month every month for the first seven or eight

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months. And at that point, I, you know, started bringing people in and getting a manager and all that

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stuff. And then it pretty much started working out, opened a new location every six months after

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that until I had five locations at that point. I met Layla. And I got asked to speak at this event.

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And like, I was not in that world. You know what I mean? I was like, I'm a gym owner. He's like,

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no, I want you to talk about how you're marketing for like brick and mortar. And I was like,

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all right, man, dude. So I went up there. And I was like, this is what I do. This is how,

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so I was able to open all my gyms at full capacity on the first day. That was kind of like the

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unique thing. So what I would do is I would sign the lease, put the deposit down. And then I'd

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start running ads immediately. And it would take me 30 days to open the gym. And so like, I would

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spend 300 bucks a day ish. And we were getting like 30 to one back on our ads. And we were making

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100 grand in our first month. And so like, you know, as the cash is coming in, I'm like,

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buying flooring and then I'm like painting the walls and like getting the equipment in it.

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Like I had this whole order because I knew that like by the time the equipment got there,

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like I had to have the paint, like, you know, all that kind of stuff. And so we'd open at full

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capacity, only using the cash that I got. Hold on. That's those stories are the fucking ones

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that people love. Like you, we got plenty of time. We got plenty of time just because I talk fast

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in the intro. Like, dude, I love that. So you, so you pre sold the memberships and then use

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the money to actually build the gym out. So what I would do is we would do these challenges.

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We do these six week way lost challenges. And the whole stick was that it was free if they lost

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the weight. And so people would like basically bet on themselves. They've met 500, 600 bucks that

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they would hit. I think I had, I think was 10% body. I changed the challenge. But it was like

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10% of your body weight. So if you were 200, you lose 20 pounds, et cetera. And they had six weeks

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to do it. And we, you know, if they work out as many times they wanted, we'd give meal plans,

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grocery lists, food preparation, instructions, eating out guides, all that kind of stuff.

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And so every week I'd sign up, you know, 25, 30, 40 people. And this was all one-on-one consultation.

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So like I would do 20 to 25 consults a day every day. And I did that for years. Even when I had

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my own gyms, like I still sold better because I just had more reps than the other guys. Yeah.

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So like I always would like set appointments for me. So I'd like every day I'd go, they had set

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like three days worth of appointments. So it was just like stacks, xxxxx. And so you just get,

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you know, just get the reps in. And that was, I was, I was referred as like my rocky cut scene,

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like, you know, I knew where I was. And I was just hitting the meat in the basement and just

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just getting those repetitions in. And so anyways, I would put the, just have $5,000 put down

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for the, for the lease. And just enough money to start the ads. And for us, we'd get ads,

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we get leads for like five bucks. And we'd sell one out of four leads into a $600 thing.

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So it's like, it would cost me 20, 25 bucks to get a customer. And I'd make $600 up front.

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And then two days later, I'd sell them supplements. You know, $200, $300 of the supplements to go

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with the program that they just bought. And then the stick was three, three weeks in of their

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six weeks, I'd be like, Hey, Dorothy, you know, let's be honest, you have more than 20 pounds to

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what's your plan after this, you know, things over, she's like, well, you know, what's the ultimate

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goal? She's like, I just want to get to my high school way. I was like, okay, so you just so

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work, Claire, you know that in the next 21 days, we're not going to do that, right? And she's like,

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no, I understand that. I was like, okay, so, but long terms, the goal she'd say yes. And I was like,

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all right, then you won the challenge. And she was like, what do you mean? I was like, because you

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realize it's not about six weeks. And so I was like, so this is what I want to do for you. You have

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the 600 bucks. I was like, I want a credit towards the goal that you really have, which is the high

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school weight. I was like, I'm just going to put towards the year. And that way, like you win today,

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you're in your one of us. Here's the t-shirt, you know, like part of the family now. And so I just

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set my membership at 50 bucks higher than it was supposed. Then I, I usually ended up selling it for.

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So it was like two 50 a month, got dropped down to 200 a month, because I take the 600 divided by 12.

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And so that credit of 50 bucks a month off. And just like that, we were able to go 600,

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you know, 250 and sobs. And then I'd be able to get the membership on the first month.

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Compare that to the business model where someone's going like three month up front. And then

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converts one out of three into a $99 a month membership. Yeah. My ability to convert cash so much

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faster was front loaded. So I could outspend everybody in my market, which is also I could launch

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for no money out of pocket, because every day I'd spend 100. I get 2000 back. And so that cash is

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what allowed me to open so quickly without having capital. My own is a young guy. And that's how I was

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able to scale. That's awesome, dude. How, how, how did you think of that? Like how, like what?

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It's a one. So I'll tell you the story. So that gym owner that I, that I went out to, right? So I

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googled like successful, I mean, you know, because whatever was 10, 11, 12 years ago, Google like

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successful gym owner in this guy had this like crappy HTML site. And it said seven figures Sam.

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All right. And I was like, cool, seven figures Sam. I'm going to go talk to this guy. And so I get

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to California. And he's got like a little group of gym owners that like all just share their,

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you know, share their stuff. It was just gym owners. And I didn't have a gym at the time. And I was

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like, is it easy? Okay, for me to be here. He was like, yeah, sure. And so that way actually got

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to learn all the stuff that they had done long before I started my first gym. So it's like, oh,

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don't go too small because of this. I don't go too big because the rent like, hey, keep it

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under this per square foot. Like all these things that like I would have no idea. Like I would have

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known that. And so one guy was there and was like, hey, I got this, this promotion that he was

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in Wilmington. So like, it was like, I've got this promotion that's like doing really well. And so he

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was doing this like eight week thing. And what happened is some rich guy, some rich entrepreneur

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apparently was like, I won't pay for it. He's like, but if I hit my goal, you give me my money back

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and you can use my testimonial and I'll like promote the shit out of you. And he's like, and

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thing is is like, he did that. And like all these other people like, yeah, I want that thing. And so

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he was doing an eight week thing. And so Sam started doing it at his place for his personal training

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side. And I was like, apprenticing under Sam. And the thing is like, I just saw like the ratio of

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how many week itself versus how many trainers would be. I was like, this doesn't like make sense.

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And I was like, what if we put it in the bootcamp? Because then we could just put as many people

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as we want in there to get people going. He's like, I think people pay 500 bucks. I was like, they

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care about the weight. They don't care about like what the the experience was. And so I ran an ad

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with that. First was technically for Sam spot. I ran the ad before we even knew that Facebook ads

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even more. So the first ad I ran for Sam. And I think I can't remember what we spent. But we made

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money on it. And it was like, holy shit, this works. And so I sold the first 10 or 12 people

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or whatever at his gym. And then that's what I went to go play at my Huntington Beach spot.

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That's awesome. But it was like an iterative like heated the first guy did eight weeks. And it was

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like, it was all about the testimonial thing. Sam cut it to six weeks. And it was all about

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personal training. And then I added in like a nutrition template thing. So I template it so

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it was like faster to move through people and made it one to many rather than one on one. And

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now it's kind of like the an added Facebook ads to it. So like, that's what when those when those

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came together as when it just like blew up. That's awesome, man. Dude, you said something in there

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that really caught my attention. It's something that we talk about on the show a lot, especially on the

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Q&A the Q&A F episodes. A lot of these young dudes, young girls too. They want to learn how to get

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good at selling and they want to learn how to how to sell. And you said the answer in there reps,

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reps. And I just wanted to point that out like, you know, you guys asked that all the time,

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like, how do I learn to become an effective salesperson, which by the way is the most effective

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skill that you could ever have. You could ever possess ever, ever, ever. If you can, if you can

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learn how to how to sell and you can learn how to manage people, there's always going to be a

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demand for your skill set. And what Alex said in there with his reps, I'm assuming that's,

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this is where you really weren't like you said, hitting, we, you know, pounding the meat. Yeah.

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You know what I'm saying? I got a girthy meat pounding going on. Yeah.

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I checked the CRM like, because I still had access to it right when I I sold my gyms three or four

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years later. I had 4,000 like confirmed kills. So like closes, not consults. And like that just

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that's a lot of sales. Yeah. A lot of conversations face to face every single one of them one-on-one,

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just like, I tell the people, I'm like, dude, get yourself in a good retail job. Get yourself in

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a retail job where you get like people that I don't want to work retail. Well, fuck you're an idiot

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them, dude, because like you can learn what you're learning in a retail operation is so much more

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valuable than what you're actually getting paid most of the time. They're working for you. Like

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your employer, like, especially if you're newer, your employer is working for you and also happens

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to be paying you because like most people come in with basically no skills. And so then like on the

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job that person, it gives you an education and pays you to learn, which is why like nowadays it

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makes almost so much more sense to just skip straight to just the on the job education, whatever

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industry want to be in because you'll learn about the industry at a broad spectrum. But then you

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also learn more tactical sales. But to your point about like selling being the most valuable skill,

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if you just like bullet down to first principles of, okay, if I want to do something, you can either

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learn how to do everything or you can convince somebody else to do that thing for you who's awesome.

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And if you can convince somebody else to do every other thing that is required to do in the business,

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then like you can have an amazing business and only know how to do one thing, which is get other

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people to do stuff. That's right. Leadership and sales, if you like, okay, well, what's leadership?

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Well, it's being able to influence other people to do the thing you want them to do. Sales is

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pretty much the same thing. Yeah. One's more transactional like depending on the type, you know, type of

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sale. But yes, I 100% agree in every way. Dude, what I found too, man, is that like if you truly

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want to be an effective leader and salesperson, the best thing that you can do to get these people to

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do what it is that you need them to do as the manager or the CEO or the operator is to make them

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understand how it's in their best interest to do those things. And a lot of people don't operate

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their business that way. I found that out after coaching an RTA group for so long with Ed, you know,

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I found, and you know, the point of the group is that people need to learn things, right? I'm not

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knocking anybody. But a lot of people don't understand that like your mission, your purpose, your

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values of your company really come from you showing the people that work for you, how their lives

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are going to benefit by actually listening to what it is that you ask them to do. And a lot of

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people bail out on that, dude, they come in, they want to run a business, they want to put their

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feet up on the, they want to go to the lake on Thursday and come back on Tuesday and they want,

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they think that they're running a company. You guys ain't running shit. You're running yourself

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out of business. And I don't know, man, it's just interesting. The whole dynamic of small business

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is super interesting to me, dude. It's where I really, it's what I really like. Like running bigger

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companies is, and like it's, it's fun. I love coming here. I love being around everybody here. I

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love, I love what we do. I love what we do for the people that are customers or companies. I love

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all that. But man, there's something about that like that, the beginning, like where you're really

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hustling and you're really learning. And like I do miss that a lot of times.

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That is exactly the, I mean, that, what you just expressed is the, the reason that we decided to

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go with acquisition.com, which we can get to later. But because we can pick companies up right at

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that, like, you know, one to 10 million in profit size. And like they're still figuring out some of

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that stuff. And so like there's a, you know, there's a chain of teeth wetting studios that we're

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looking at and like in the diligence process, like, man, I was like, your physical product sales

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are low. And they're like, yeah, we're still struggling with that. I was like, I fucking promise

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that I know, I figured out how to get everybody to leave with a kit, like I promised. And like when

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I was figuring out, so we have a chain of 38, I think photography studios. It was our first personal

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investment. The layland I made outside of like the normal real estate and stocks and stuff.

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And now when we spent like six months trying to figure it out a way to just like re-engineer the

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sales process and ended up just massively increasing the ticket size and the take rates at the same

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time. But anyways, all of that comes from like a thousand tiny conversations that you notice

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someone pause and you're like, I said that they didn't hear it the right way. How can I rephrase

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this? Or is there a way, if I put this first, is that influenced how they see the rest of the

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conversation? But like, you can't do that without the reps. No. And dude, it has to be like this. It

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cannot be through a text or through through. I mean, now it probably can be. But when you're learning,

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you know, for for you guys who are trying to learn these skill sets, dude, the acuity that you

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have to have to read someone can only come from that scenario. There's no coach that can teach you

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that. Door knocking, cold calling, and or retail where you you have 20, 30 people a day walking

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at least. Yeah. And when you do that, it's like that's the it's the tiny little pauses where someone

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says something and you have to like if you have to if you have to be reminded, you don't know it

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well. So like it's a sales guy. Like if you have to think about what you're going to say next,

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it's kind of like wrestlers when they're on the mat. Like you sure don't you know what you're

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going to be shooting to counter something. Yeah. That's someone else's like, you're not like, okay,

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they just pulled my wrist. So now and it's like you're fucked already. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You

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wrestle. I did. Yeah. Yeah. Not that great. Yeah. Oh, wrestling's a wrestling's an

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has been an awesome awesome life teacher for me. Yeah. Awesome. Talk about reps. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

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Do a single take down and do it 100 times every day. Just just walk out to a match where everybody's

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watching you and it's just you and one other person and there's no hiding whatsoever of any sort.

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Like it's a totally different kind of thing, but that's a whole another. Yeah. But dude,

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so when we're talking about. So you got the gyms open. Yeah. And because I do want to talk about

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where you are now and what you do because secretly that's what I want to do. So I'm to the point

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now where I'm just like dude, I love the creative process. I love the lay of the land. I love

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showing people. You know, like like your dental teeth whitening thing. Yeah, right. Like I love

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like I'm like you guys are missing it here. Yeah. I love being able to show those kind of things

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and and that's but I don't want to do them. Yeah. I don't say I don't want to do them anymore.

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I was doing 24 years. Yeah. Um, I might do it for 25 just to say 25. But it's, uh, it's cool

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what you're doing. So where'd you go? So you got the gyms going. Yeah. Now what happens?

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So got the gyms going. I spoke at that conference, right? And I talk about this. Hey, this is what

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I'm doing. I showed everything. Like I didn't I was just like that's my ad. That's my landing

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page was like, here's my phone script. Here's like I just showed that I didn't know how presentations

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worked. That's like it sounds ridiculous. I got off the stage and to this day, even with all the

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media and press, I have never been more be martyred in my life. Like there was like a three rose

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deep circle around me and like for the next two days, I think like guys were like peanut the

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urinal next to me like, Hey man, like the whole thing for context, I got 150 business cards

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just from like the stage to the bathroom. Like it was insane. And I got back and I was like,

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man, and they were like, what can I buy from you? I was like, nothing. I was like, I own five gyms.

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I was like, they're like, how do I do it? I was like, that, that thing. That's how I do it. And so

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what happened is it's our good. No, I'm just saying like I'm sitting here and I'm just like

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reflecting on all of the shit you're telling me and how parallel it is to my story, dude. It's like

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so parallel. Like it's so parallel. That's how I got into speaking too. That was the exact same

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thing that happened to me. I got asked to talk about our retail success because we had supplement

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super stores, which we still have. And I got asked to come talk about it and show how we were

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how we were able to grow it. And it's the fucking exact same story. Supplements fitness.

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I lived in the back of that first store. Bro, like it's just crazy hearing it. I just want it's

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cool. It's probably already the world in a similar way. Yeah, definitely. Well, that's funny

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because you guys don't know. So Alex and I, we know each other, but like we've never actually

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met in person. We text and we talk about things that are important that are going on. Like,

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hey, what do you think of this or that? Like when something's truly big that's happening,

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like when chat GPT came out, we, him and I were talking because I wanted to get your take on it

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because like it was so, so huge to think about. So when these big, huge things, I like to get Alex's

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brain on it because Alex has a nice brain. But it's a girthy. Yeah. So, you know, smart people do

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that with people that are smart. And so, but we haven't got to sit down and talk about the actual

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story. But what was funny was this was probably just like what in November or whatever when it started

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in December. And we started talking. I was like, dude, you sold supplements to me. And he's like,

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yeah, I'm like, I could tell because it was so like the thinking, like we were talking,

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we were talking about this before the show actually aired. Like how you have to think about

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product that you're going to sell to someone that they don't actually want, but need is it

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completely different mind process than selling it to something that they want. Like, bro, if I was

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selling shit that people want, like I would be worth a hundred billion fucking hours. Like,

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but I sell people all the shit I sell is shit that people they need not want. And it's just a

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totally different game. Anyway, I didn't want to interrupt your story. I'm sitting here thinking

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there's a lot of parallels. This is the same story. How old are you? 33. Okay, dude, I'm 10 years

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older than you. That's awesome. Yeah. Maybe I'll be here in 10 years. No, you're fucking doing it.

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Anyway, sorry. So, uh, so this guy reaches his arm through and he's like, here's my credit card.

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He said, run it for $5,000. Tell me what I get later. And I was like, what? Like, what? I didn't

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like, I don't, I don't even, I don't do anything. I'm not that rich. And so like, you know, every,

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all the money I had would open new locations, et cetera, et cetera. And so I get back home. I put

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all the business cards into an Excel sheet. And I started hitting people back up because that's,

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you know, I was like, Hey, thanks again, you know, whatever. And so this, I had the guy's credit card.

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And I was like, I called him up. I was like, do you really want me to run this for five

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granules? I was like, because I will. And he was like, yeah, run it. And I was like, okay,

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so I swiped it. And I'm still on the phone with him. It goes through and he's like, all right,

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what do I get? And I was like, I don't know yet. I was like, but I promise I'll make you more

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than five grand. Yeah. That was what I said. And so he was like, well, you know what? I've got

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a gym opening up in DC. Uh, why don't you fly out and just do your launch thing? And I was like,

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okay, I'll do that. And I was like, how about this? I'll spend all the money on the launch.

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And I'll get to keep all the upfront sales. But then you get all the customer as I sell for free.

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So like after the six weeks is over, you convert them and I'll show you how to convert them.

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And I'll give you all my plans and all the stuff. Which you're doing it. Right. It's free

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customers for yeah. And so as soon as I knew I was fine out there, I was like, okay, well,

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if I'm going to be there, let me see what else is going on. And so this is like unfortunate,

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but my mom got really sick at the same time. And she was in Baltimore. So like, they're right next

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to each other. And so I was like, shit, so I actually had to go there early. And while I was there,

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I only had a couple hours of day of visiting hours. And so I was like, losing my mind,

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just like trying to stay busy. I was like, I'm nothing to do. And so I reached out to a

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friend because I'm from Baltimore. And he was like, Hey, my buddy, he's got a gym and he's

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sucking wind. So I give the guy at the same pitch. I was like, Hey, man, I got nothing to do all day

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besides my visiting hours was like, can I just work your front desk and like sell shit? And he was like,

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sure. And so in like 14 days or something, I think I made like 60 grand. And I was like,

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man, I don't have to do any of the employees. I was like, this is such bad. I was like, I'm all

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about this. And then I did the lunch and DC. And then he referred me his like father and law

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who had a gym or something like that. So I went to that gym and I did the same thing. And I flew

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back and had this big stack of contracts. And this is just when I met Layla. Like we had met

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like within 30 days of this period. And this is like how I convinced her to quit her job.

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So I stack it. Because I first date, I proposed to Layla, but I proposed that she quit her job and

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joined me, not like, yeah, yeah. But I didn't pose out of first date. Like, man, man, you move it.

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I came in a hot man. And so every single time we see it, I was like, you quit yet. And she's

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like, no, I just fucking met you. No, I'm not quitting my job. And so finally, she picks me up

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from the airport. And she was like, you're taking me on a date. It's been like, we've hung out like

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30 times. And you've not taken me on a date. I was like, yes, I did promise that. And we will go

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on a date. But can you do me one thing first? I was like, I got these contracts. I haven't processed

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any of them because I'm a sales guy and like, I don't do details. But like, I have all the credit

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cards. And I'll show you how to do it. And she's like, fine. So the zillion, you know,

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two phone books of contracts later, she like ran, she was like, I was like $125,000. I was like,

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dope, right? And she was like, is that legal? I'm still some dude from the internet,

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she met at a frozen yogurt, you know, like, whatever. And I was like, yeah, it's legal. And she was

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like, pardon me. And that was it. That's like Wolf Wall Street. Yeah. So I mean, I was 20,

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I think I was 26. That's crazy. And that was from like a month of sales. So I was like,

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and that was just like, right in my past like, this is I like this. This is way better. So

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I told her I was like, I want to do this. And all started because that guy was like, run five grand,

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tell me what I get. I was like, dude, this make way more money. They forced you into it. You did.

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And so anyways, I was like, that's so crazy. It was nuts. And so I was like, all right,

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well, I'm gonna go see if I can get other gyms. I still had all those numbers from the business,

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the business events. I start calling these people up and whatever. And so I start booking out

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like launches. And she's like, all right. So she flies with me. So my dude, now we're living together.

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It's like 30 days. She's living with me in a motel room. And I'm teaching how to like close

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this stuff. But she was to be fair. Layla was number one salesman in Triangle Square,

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which is the most popular 24-off fitness in California. So she was the number one salesman at the

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most, like, the most trafficked gym, like she could close. She got skills. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

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Real quick, guys, if you can think about how you found this podcast, somebody probably tweeted it,

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told you about it, showed it on Instagram or something like that. The only way this grows

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is through word of mouth. And so I don't run ads. I don't do sponsorships. I don't sell anything.

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My only ask is that you continue to pay it forward. Whoever showed you or however you found out

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about this podcast that you do the exact same thing. So if it was a review, if it was a post,

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if you do that, it would mean the world to me. And you'll throw some good karma out there for

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another entrepreneur. And that's why I pitch it on the first day. When she told me that I was like,

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if you can sell, I was like, we can make a shitload of money. Yeah. That's the first day.

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And so anyways, we start flying out and doing these launches, right? And so she gets all of her

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friends to quit her, quit their job. And this is where the story goes. So I was like, okay,

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I don't want to split my attention. I've got these five gyms. And so I sold those gyms. And that

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first guy did the $5,000 thing was like, Hey, man, I think you're leaving a lot of money on the

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table because you're like literally launching these gyms and you have no equity in these businesses.

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He's like, I'm a really good operator. He's like, I'll come behind you. And I'll just like

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staff them up. So you just, you fill them. I'll staff them. And you just do the next week.

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He's like, we can open like two gyms a month. And mind you, because we didn't have to donate

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like real capital down because we could, we could front it or whatever. And I was like, all right,

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cool. Let's do it. And lay those like, I thought we were doing that. I was like, oh yeah,

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James a plan. It's even the quick job. I'll get

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right. Layless top. Yeah. Oh, it's so I do this. We go to this. I signed this lease. He's like,

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hey, I've got bad financials. So like you're going to have to personally guarantee it. I was like,

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sure, no problem. He's like, again, the build out, you know, you'll

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that wasn't a red flag of you at the time. Yeah. Well, I'll tell you. Yeah. Yeah. And so

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I heard he knows where it's going. Well, I've had a couple of those. I took the cash, put all of it

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into that now the new account because I that's what I thought you did. I sold them. And it's

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all like, oh yeah, well, he's my partner in this. Yeah. It makes sense, right? I already know.

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Yep. And so I sell my ass off at this next launch because I'm like stoked. I got rid of the five

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gyms that I I felt like free. Like I had backpack, you know, like me and me and my voice and just like

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go collecting credit cards. So 376 people in six weeks, which is a lot like 600 pop. Right. And

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so there's cash from my sale and the cash from this to like launch this gym week up one morning,

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all the cash is going off. I was like, what? What happened here? And he was like, I took my half.

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And I was like, what? He was like, I know you've been skimming. And I was like, I put them up,

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a skim for myself. Like what? And so I was like, so I've never been accused of stealing ever my

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life. So I was like, I don't even know how to handle this. So I just called him into when he's like,

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print out the bank statements and just go line by line with him. I was like, that sounds reasonable.

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I'll do that. Yeah. So I print out the bank statements. And I like literally did the whole thing,

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went and I drove over to where he was. And as soon as I sat down with the thing, he just took

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he was like, I don't need to see, he's pushed it off the table. And I was like, oh, you don't

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actually think I stole. Like as soon as he didn't want to look at the numbers, that was like my

356
00:28:47.280 --> 00:28:55.680
I'm taking I'm taking the shit and it's taken. Yeah. Yeah. And so he had wired the money to his

357
00:28:55.680 --> 00:29:00.960
girlfriend who lived in Sweden. It was it was it was gone into oblivion. And he had been indicted for

358
00:29:00.960 --> 00:29:06.080
fraud two years before that. Shocking. Here's where the here's where the the silly Alex Park

359
00:29:06.080 --> 00:29:10.640
comes in. I already knew that when I started doing business. And he was like, it was just a big

360
00:29:10.640 --> 00:29:15.760
misunderstanding. And I was like, I believe you. Bro, that's what a good hard does. Dude, I've been

361
00:29:15.760 --> 00:29:18.880
burned like that same shit. I would want a second. I was like, you're not going to ruin for

362
00:29:18.880 --> 00:29:22.560
life. You made it, you know, like it was a misunderstanding. Like he was a technicality. But,

363
00:29:22.560 --> 00:29:29.600
you know, how how much old was this guy than you? I was 26. Yeah. I was 26. Right. Yeah. Dude,

364
00:29:29.600 --> 00:29:35.520
I've been burned so many fucking times by that same mentality, that same thing. It's it's

365
00:29:35.520 --> 00:29:39.120
with good heart syndrome. Well, no, dude, it's the second chance thing because like dude,

366
00:29:39.120 --> 00:29:45.920
what it is is like you you know, like at least for me, like I know that I'm not a perfect person.

367
00:29:45.920 --> 00:29:51.120
And I know that I've done a lot of things in my life where had just a certain thing gone in

368
00:29:51.120 --> 00:29:56.400
different way, I would have ended up completely fucking different. So when I see people who have like

369
00:29:57.040 --> 00:30:02.960
made a mistake or they, you know, served jail time or whatever it is. And they're out and they're

370
00:30:02.960 --> 00:30:07.200
doing their thing. I don't really hold it against those people because I say, okay, well, they

371
00:30:07.280 --> 00:30:10.560
probably learned a lesson because I would have learned my lesson. Yeah. And then when it ends up

372
00:30:10.560 --> 00:30:15.040
happening is they're going to learn the lesson. Yeah. The scorpion in the frog. Yeah. Now you

373
00:30:15.040 --> 00:30:19.120
got to learn the lesson. Yeah. And that's like the, I never, I never like, you never really don't

374
00:30:19.120 --> 00:30:22.880
on me that whole saying like when money meets experience, experience gets the money, the money gets

375
00:30:22.880 --> 00:30:28.720
the experience. But like that's a good one. Yeah. Yeah. I heard that. And I was like, that's what

376
00:30:28.720 --> 00:30:34.000
that was. That's exactly what that was. And so now I've got this gym that has payroll trainers,

377
00:30:34.000 --> 00:30:39.040
lease, and there's no cash. And I had just sold my gyms. And I was like, wait, I don't want to operate

378
00:30:39.040 --> 00:30:43.760
these gyms. And he's like, well, you got to manage that one now. And I was like, dude, I didn't go

379
00:30:43.760 --> 00:30:48.640
from five, five plus one, whatever you want to call this one to, to go back to work in the,

380
00:30:48.640 --> 00:30:52.640
like I felt like I had like stuff. I want to do these launches, whatever. And so

381
00:30:54.720 --> 00:30:58.400
that's crazy because dude, how did that guy knock out and greedy and how much fucking money he could

382
00:30:58.400 --> 00:31:05.600
have made? You know what I'm saying? Like, dude. And so what ended up happening is I basically,

383
00:31:05.600 --> 00:31:10.720
whatever savings I didn't put into every, like the vast majority of what I had, I put into there.

384
00:31:10.720 --> 00:31:14.240
But I couldn't sell anymore, which is the only thing that I'd ever known how to do really, really

385
00:31:14.240 --> 00:31:18.640
well. And so I was like, I felt like neutered. Like I had like handcuffs. I was like, I can't fight

386
00:31:18.640 --> 00:31:22.080
back because if I sell more, I have to keep this gym open. And I don't want to keep this gym.

387
00:31:22.800 --> 00:31:27.200
And so I drained my savings every week with payroll and rent and overhead because I couldn't

388
00:31:27.200 --> 00:31:31.120
bring new cash in. And all the things were prepayment. So there was no new cash flow at all because

389
00:31:31.120 --> 00:31:39.200
that's how the, you know, that's how the cycle went. Right. And so it went down and in six weeks. And

390
00:31:39.200 --> 00:31:42.880
I had to, you know, tell everybody like, hey, we're actually closing. They're like, you just

391
00:31:42.880 --> 00:31:48.320
launched this gym. What are you talking about? Like it was horrible. And like, I just like, Leila,

392
00:31:48.320 --> 00:31:51.360
I just gave her my checkbook. And I was like, you have to write the checks. Like I can't like,

393
00:31:51.360 --> 00:31:58.800
it just crushed me. You know what I mean? And so, um, basically drained me down to, um,

394
00:31:58.800 --> 00:32:03.920
I think I had 20, 20 ish thousand dollars left. So money like I had five, six gyms. I could,

395
00:32:03.920 --> 00:32:07.280
I could crank cash if I needed to. Like all the way down to 20 something thousand. I was like,

396
00:32:07.280 --> 00:32:11.200
and nothing coming in. No. And I just gave enough four years of my life building the gyms and I had

397
00:32:11.200 --> 00:32:15.440
nothing to show for it. Yeah. Like I had nothing for it after all that, you know, effort. So even on

398
00:32:15.440 --> 00:32:21.040
the floor, I was like, for another, right? Yeah. And so, uh, she was like, for, for nothing except

399
00:32:21.040 --> 00:32:27.440
all the skills. That's right. And so we're now, this is, this is what's going on. There's this launch

400
00:32:27.440 --> 00:32:33.440
that I got a guy in San Diego to do. And a guy who had seen me speak at that conference or whatever

401
00:32:33.440 --> 00:32:36.720
hit me up, he's like, dude, do you have any sales work? And I knew he was pretty good sales guy. I was

402
00:32:36.720 --> 00:32:40.960
like, I got this gym in San Diego. He's like, that's right down the street for me. And this is like a

403
00:32:40.960 --> 00:32:45.040
national like, I don't know. God. You know what? This might actually help me out because I can like

404
00:32:45.040 --> 00:32:50.800
build all the shit I need to be building. You go do that thing. So this was going to be my get out

405
00:32:50.800 --> 00:32:55.440
of jail free cart. We launched the gym. Guy crushes it. There's a hundred and some thousand in sales.

406
00:32:55.440 --> 00:33:02.560
I was like, I can't. And now I'm sleeping at Layla's parents house. Yeah. This is when she's

407
00:33:02.560 --> 00:33:08.560
her parents. Yeah. So from the internet, he's the guy put everything and move and live in motels with

408
00:33:08.560 --> 00:33:16.320
dad. He's a winner. Oh, man. This is my first. Yeah. Oh, man. And so it's December now, right?

409
00:33:16.320 --> 00:33:22.720
And December of 16. And so he crushes this launch. But I'm like, looking at my bank account.

410
00:33:22.720 --> 00:33:26.560
I was like, where's the fucking deposit? Like two days were my day. Two days was always the big one

411
00:33:26.560 --> 00:33:30.560
because I got all the weekend. And then it would all it would all settle. I was like, where is this

412
00:33:30.560 --> 00:33:34.240
deposit? It's like Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. So I call and fries like, hey, what's going on?

413
00:33:34.240 --> 00:33:38.080
They're like, oh, we're doing a standard review of your account. And I was like, I've been with you

414
00:33:38.080 --> 00:33:42.400
guys five years. Like, I've never had a standard view. Anyways, they're like, just call it.

415
00:33:42.400 --> 00:33:47.760
It should be fine. Next week is now going into Christmas Eve. All right. So it's Christmas Eve now.

416
00:33:48.400 --> 00:33:51.840
And I'd call it a couple of times. They just gave me the runaround. And I got on and I was like,

417
00:33:52.800 --> 00:33:57.760
I am not getting off the phone until you give me the money. Like I need the money to pay the sales

418
00:33:57.760 --> 00:34:02.000
guy to run my business. And this is the point where Layla had told all of her friends to quit their job.

419
00:34:02.960 --> 00:34:08.320
So I have $23,000 left. I owe the sales guy $22,000 in commission. He needed, because he had a

420
00:34:08.320 --> 00:34:13.200
sob story, new baby, blah, blah, blah, whatever. And I hadn't gotten the money from the sales yet.

421
00:34:13.200 --> 00:34:19.360
And so I didn't want to get myself a chance to think about it. And so I wired him $22,000 left.

422
00:34:20.400 --> 00:34:25.440
This is the 24th Christmas Eve. Her dad's like, he seems a little stressed.

423
00:34:25.440 --> 00:34:31.680
It's supposed to be a joyous event. Oh, yeah. So two days later, the 26th of December is

424
00:34:31.680 --> 00:34:35.920
basically when gyms kick off the New Year's sale stuff. Like the day after you just start, because

425
00:34:35.920 --> 00:34:40.320
it's this dead week where everyone's got time and they feel fat. It's like crush sales.

426
00:34:40.320 --> 00:34:44.240
It doesn't start January. It's because everybody's gonna do it. So they're willing to pay for it now.

427
00:34:44.240 --> 00:34:47.840
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah. I'll pay today. I'll start in January. What exactly?

428
00:34:47.840 --> 00:34:52.720
And so the campaigns we're going to kick off with her six friends being the six sales guys,

429
00:34:52.720 --> 00:34:57.120
because like big ambition Alex was like, oh, we're going to go from doing one to doing six.

430
00:34:57.120 --> 00:34:59.680
Make sense. Let's do that is the first real thing we do.

431
00:35:01.520 --> 00:35:07.920
It was 3,300 a day in hotels, airfare, car, rental, ad spend, et cetera, before commissions.

432
00:35:08.960 --> 00:35:14.480
I had a thousand dollars left. And I was starting 48 hours later because I was expecting

433
00:35:14.480 --> 00:35:18.480
to get the money that I never got. I also, by the way, never got that way. Still to this day.

434
00:35:18.480 --> 00:35:23.360
Never got the money. Clauses policy something. They said they're going to hold on to it for six

435
00:35:23.360 --> 00:35:27.200
months because it was irregular. So I was basically running my national launch thing through my local

436
00:35:27.200 --> 00:35:33.600
gym. So like I'm processing stuff in Canada for a gym out of likes. They were right to do it. I

437
00:35:33.600 --> 00:35:37.760
didn't know. I just thought I was like, yeah, you process money through the POS. I'm running

438
00:35:37.760 --> 00:35:42.080
memberships at my gym that has more memberships than like any other gym, but no one's actually there.

439
00:35:42.880 --> 00:35:50.320
Anyways, and so we do these, we start these launches and we start getting like 60-80 contracts

440
00:35:50.320 --> 00:35:55.840
a day. I have no way to process money. So I'm spending 3,300 a day and I can't make money. I'm

441
00:35:55.840 --> 00:35:58.960
just getting all these credit cards, all these contracts, and I have nothing that I can do.

442
00:35:59.600 --> 00:36:04.880
So all the way, so let's just like the 26th of December, all the way to January 29th. I don't have

443
00:36:04.880 --> 00:36:09.520
a processor because at this point, if you get kicked off a processor, it's like it's like going to

444
00:36:09.520 --> 00:36:13.840
jail. I remember that. It's like, yeah, it was a big, you get a big black mark. It's hard to get

445
00:36:13.840 --> 00:36:18.000
another one. Yeah. Because there used to only be a few, a few processors. Yeah. Yeah. This is

446
00:36:18.000 --> 00:36:22.720
hardland, if you've heard of it in 1514. Yeah. Yeah. And so, and they had all the power. There

447
00:36:22.720 --> 00:36:26.320
wasn't any, you know, yeah, and they were, they didn't care either. No. Yeah. And I was a like

448
00:36:26.320 --> 00:36:31.760
fuck you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This is other. Right. And so, um, yeah, but when you get big,

449
00:36:31.760 --> 00:36:35.760
it's a different fucking tune. You know, now they come in here and suck dicks to get our fucking

450
00:36:35.760 --> 00:36:40.240
business. Can't do that. That's fine. I don't think I don't fucking remember assholes.

451
00:36:40.240 --> 00:36:45.120
Right. It's saying because I've had to deal with the same shit. It was horrible. And so, it's,

452
00:36:45.120 --> 00:36:49.120
it's one of these crazy things that has a business you forget about. But like if you cannot process

453
00:36:49.120 --> 00:36:55.600
money, you fuck like there's nothing you can do. And so anyways, I talked to everybody I knew

454
00:36:55.600 --> 00:37:01.840
and it got a porn casino high risk, whatever guy to take my take my money, right? So they were

455
00:37:01.840 --> 00:37:07.520
going to get like 8% processing fee. And then they had a 10% reserve on top of that. So like

456
00:37:08.080 --> 00:37:12.880
18% of my sales went straight 10 was held in escrow and then gets deposited six months later

457
00:37:12.880 --> 00:37:16.640
on a rolling basis. And then 8% just goes to them for the risk thing. I was like, whatever,

458
00:37:16.640 --> 00:37:21.280
I need the money. So 29th, I process and he's like, oh, by the way, you only have a 50,000

459
00:37:21.280 --> 00:37:26.640
hour limit. I'm like, dude, I need so much more than that. He's tough. I run 50s like, oh,

460
00:37:26.640 --> 00:37:31.280
but by the way, it's per month. So like February 1st, he's like, you can run another 50. So I ran

461
00:37:31.360 --> 00:37:37.280
50 on January 29th, 50 on February 1st. And that was the 100 for the $3,300 a day that I owed.

462
00:37:37.280 --> 00:37:43.280
And I like, my credit card was at zero. Still was broke, but I was at zero. And then I got

463
00:37:43.280 --> 00:37:46.960
true through more processors, got them going. And then all of a sudden, we're at like, we did like

464
00:37:46.960 --> 00:37:50.800
one seven year, one 80 that next month. And I made like 30,000 dollars in profit. And I looked

465
00:37:50.800 --> 00:37:58.160
at like, I think we got out of it. Next month comes taps me on the shoulder one morning. And I was

466
00:37:58.160 --> 00:38:01.120
like, what's up? She was like, there's a problem. I was like, what do you mean there's a problem?

467
00:38:01.120 --> 00:38:06.320
She turns her laptop towards me. And there's this like waterfall of negative transactions. She

468
00:38:06.320 --> 00:38:09.920
just keeps scrolling as she's talking to me. And I was like, holy shit, and each one of these is

469
00:38:09.920 --> 00:38:14.400
like as big as my rent because 500, 600 bucks was like my rent. And there's just hundreds of them.

470
00:38:14.400 --> 00:38:19.840
And I was like, I just felt like my stomach dropped. And she was like, what is this? She was like,

471
00:38:19.840 --> 00:38:24.720
oh, one of the gym owners told all the members that we filled up at that gym to refund and

472
00:38:24.720 --> 00:38:29.680
sign up through him for half what we charged. Because we held the processing risk, which is part

473
00:38:29.680 --> 00:38:37.520
of the issue with the first thing. And so charging you back at this point. And so this is on my new

474
00:38:37.520 --> 00:38:43.520
high-risk processor. And you're just starting to get some rapport with this fucking guy.

475
00:38:43.520 --> 00:38:48.720
Right. And so another guy, that guy tells another guy or something. So two gyms do this.

476
00:38:49.440 --> 00:38:55.440
150,000 in refunds that I didn't have. Because I just, no, because you know, the one guy,

477
00:38:55.440 --> 00:38:59.920
fucking calls other guys and says, hey, this is what we're doing. And so because we would sell and we

478
00:38:59.920 --> 00:39:03.360
leave and we go to the next gym, but they had all the customers. And they built the relationship,

479
00:39:03.360 --> 00:39:07.600
which is a flow on the model. You know, like I didn't get it yet. Mind you, there were other gyms

480
00:39:07.600 --> 00:39:10.960
that were totally cool, really appreciative, awesome, hardworking people. Like, absolutely. We did

481
00:39:10.960 --> 00:39:15.440
30 something launches, only two of them had that happen. But like, they're big deal. Yeah, they were

482
00:39:15.440 --> 00:39:20.720
all my profit. And so I'm like, how the fuck am I going to kind of come up with 150 grand in

483
00:39:20.720 --> 00:39:26.800
profit, not revenue in the next 30 days. And so Layla, being the smart woman that she is,

484
00:39:26.800 --> 00:39:30.240
took all her personal training clients and brought them online when she came with me to do this

485
00:39:30.240 --> 00:39:34.320
flying around the country thing. And she was making like three or four thousand a month. And I was

486
00:39:34.320 --> 00:39:38.800
like, wait, tell me more about that thing you do. And she was like, it's all margin. Yeah,

487
00:39:38.800 --> 00:39:43.360
I don't work that hard on it. And I was like, okay, you're the business now. I'm going to

488
00:39:43.360 --> 00:39:47.200
market and sell it. I'll bring the sales guys in. And we're going to push your thing. So in like

489
00:39:47.200 --> 00:39:51.440
two days, I write a whole sales letter, we write label everything to queen transformation.

490
00:39:52.080 --> 00:39:56.000
And we start running ads and she starts closing a thousand bucks a day, all profit. I was like, okay,

491
00:39:56.000 --> 00:40:00.160
if we get eight in, we could do eight thousand a day, minus ad spend that's, you know, like I'll be at

492
00:40:00.160 --> 00:40:04.800
150 ish in profit. Like we could do this. And so we start doing that. So I'm going to call all the

493
00:40:04.800 --> 00:40:08.080
guys that all the gyms that were supposed to launch the next month. So we had, I think eight gyms

494
00:40:08.080 --> 00:40:13.040
that were supposed to launch the next, the next, you know, the next month. And I get on the phone

495
00:40:13.040 --> 00:40:16.000
with the first guy. I was like, Hey, I'm getting out of the business. I'm selling straight to, you

496
00:40:16.000 --> 00:40:19.760
know, straight to consumer, like new chapter. Sorry. And they didn't really pay me anything because

497
00:40:19.760 --> 00:40:25.040
I made my money on the on the sales. Right. And he was like, dude, I just refinanced my house. Like

498
00:40:25.040 --> 00:40:28.240
you did this for a buddy of mine. I know you can do it. Like I need your help.

499
00:40:28.960 --> 00:40:35.360
Whole thing. And finally, I was like, dude, I'm not flying out there. And he's like, fine. Okay,

500
00:40:35.360 --> 00:40:40.400
can you just show me what you did at his place? So I can do it here. And I was like,

501
00:40:41.360 --> 00:40:46.480
all right, fine. He's like, well, how much? And I remember just knowing he was broke. And so I

502
00:40:46.480 --> 00:40:50.240
just picked a really high number, a high summer, I could think of just so we'd just say no. And I

503
00:40:50.240 --> 00:40:53.920
can just like move on with my life because the other thing was working. So I was like $6,000,

504
00:40:53.920 --> 00:40:58.320
which I know that sounds ridiculous now. But that was like, yeah, he would pay $6,000.

505
00:40:59.280 --> 00:41:09.120
And he was like, six K. And I was like, yeah, $6,000. And he was like, oh, done. I just

506
00:41:09.120 --> 00:41:15.760
remember like, look at the code. You just know you made a shitty ass deal, bro. And I was like,

507
00:41:15.760 --> 00:41:19.520
but I still I still get goose bumps thinking about it now because I was like, holy shit,

508
00:41:19.520 --> 00:41:23.520
$6,000. And I was like, oh, what card do you want? Because like, it's like if you have to think

509
00:41:23.520 --> 00:41:26.480
about it, you don't know all enough. Like I was already asking for the credit card, but like my

510
00:41:26.480 --> 00:41:30.800
head was like, what just happened? And so then I was like, shit, I got seven more guys to

511
00:41:30.800 --> 00:41:33.440
cost like all the next guy. And I was like, well, now I got to make this damn thing, right?

512
00:41:33.440 --> 00:41:37.600
I just promised this guy same conversation how much I was like, eight grand. And he was like,

513
00:41:37.600 --> 00:41:43.360
done. And I was like, next call, same thing, 10 grand, done, next thing, next call, same thing,

514
00:41:43.360 --> 00:41:47.600
just to teach them how to do. Yeah, I was going to license it my whole thing. So I was like,

515
00:41:47.600 --> 00:41:51.520
we'll use my ads. So like, we don't have to test it. Like, it's a video of me works doing

516
00:41:51.600 --> 00:41:56.640
like every, like the whole thing. And I had already built 80% of it because there's my internal

517
00:41:56.640 --> 00:41:59.360
training, like how I train myself, like all the sales training was done, all the nutrition,

518
00:41:59.360 --> 00:42:03.680
all the stuff was done. The only thing that wasn't to them was how I ran the ads in the landing

519
00:42:03.680 --> 00:42:08.160
pages. That was the only thing that was like missing that I had to build. So anyways, in one day,

520
00:42:08.160 --> 00:42:14.720
I did $60,000 and like cash collected selling air. And Layla had been on the phone all day closing

521
00:42:14.720 --> 00:42:17.520
because she's still closing the weight loss thing like she's trying to like give us food.

522
00:42:17.920 --> 00:42:21.360
Yeah, yeah. And she comes in and I was like, hey, babe,

523
00:42:23.680 --> 00:42:28.720
was that a sale? And she was like, yeah, I was like, I think we might have had a change in

524
00:42:28.720 --> 00:42:32.080
direction. And she was like, what do you talk like? And mind you, think about how what she's been through.

525
00:42:32.080 --> 00:42:36.720
This is you already know. We're here here. She's like, she's like, again, I was like,

526
00:42:37.440 --> 00:42:41.120
I think we're still in the gym business. I think I was just doing it. And she was like,

527
00:42:41.120 --> 00:42:44.960
what do you mean? And I like told her and she was like, well, is this what we're going to do now?

528
00:42:44.960 --> 00:42:48.800
And I was like, I guess so. I was like, it made a lot more money than the other thing. And I was

529
00:42:48.800 --> 00:42:51.280
like, I think we could cover all the refunds with this. And she's like, well, how are you going to

530
00:42:51.280 --> 00:42:53.840
get gyms? I was like, well, I've 30 something just weird. I did the turn around. So I'll call

531
00:42:53.840 --> 00:42:58.640
those guys up. They know it works. And so that's what I did. And so I called all those guys up and

532
00:42:59.280 --> 00:43:04.400
sold almost all of them into the thing. We did like 300,000 like in profit. I think it's 215. I remember

533
00:43:04.400 --> 00:43:09.760
when there was 215 that next month. And I covered all the all the chargebacks, all the refunds,

534
00:43:09.760 --> 00:43:15.360
everything. And what happened now is that all those gyms that I did the turn around thing with,

535
00:43:15.360 --> 00:43:20.480
they ran the play. And the average amount of cash they collected new cash in the first 30 days of

536
00:43:20.480 --> 00:43:27.200
use in the system was $30,000. So that was the average. So for context, everyone's listening,

537
00:43:27.200 --> 00:43:31.120
the average microgemoner, like, so that CrossFit guy down the street, he's probably broke that you

538
00:43:31.120 --> 00:43:35.840
know where that bootcamp owner like, I'm telling you right now, he's yeah, yeah. The average owner

539
00:43:35.840 --> 00:43:42.000
takes home $36,000 a year, netting home. And they work 80 hours a week plus. I mean, like,

540
00:43:42.000 --> 00:43:49.680
it's less than minimum. It's yeah. Anyhow. So for them, this was life-changing money, right? And

541
00:43:49.680 --> 00:43:52.960
that was the next one they could do the play again. You could relaunch your gym. The problem that

542
00:43:52.960 --> 00:43:56.240
they started running to is they're like, dude, my gyms full. I want to sell more people. My gyms

543
00:43:56.240 --> 00:44:00.240
one. I was like, that's why I started a launch and go model because I had more ability. I had more

544
00:44:00.240 --> 00:44:06.960
firepower to sell in market than I had a square footage to sell into. And so from there, because

545
00:44:06.960 --> 00:44:12.560
it's the tight-knit community for microgemoners. And then the word of math just took off like wildfire.

546
00:44:12.560 --> 00:44:22.960
We did 300, 480, 780, a million, 1, 2, 1, 5, 1, 8, 2, 2, 3, 2, 5. That was that was per month. The next

547
00:44:22.960 --> 00:44:28.960
like each month, like I can still remember it. And we finished that year that like, which was

548
00:44:28.960 --> 00:44:32.640
really just the half of the year. Because when it was like January, I'm still doing the

549
00:44:32.640 --> 00:44:37.440
launches thing that got off fucked up. So like June-ish is when that we switched the licensing.

550
00:44:37.440 --> 00:44:42.240
So we finished that year 6.8 with 3 million profit. And the next full calendar year we did after

551
00:44:42.240 --> 00:44:46.720
that was 26 million top line, 17 million EBITDA. Yeah. And it was just like I-

552
00:44:47.440 --> 00:44:54.000
You know what's crazy? You know what I hear when I hear this? Because obviously I'm thinking like

553
00:44:54.000 --> 00:44:59.520
as you speak, I'm thinking like dude, you talking about like the credit card processing. Like we've

554
00:44:59.520 --> 00:45:05.920
had those issues the same all of that shit. But dude, the main theme I think that people need to

555
00:45:05.920 --> 00:45:11.120
pull from what you just said for you guys that are out there. And you tell me what you think. But

556
00:45:11.120 --> 00:45:19.600
I know this. My best shit comes when my back is against the fucking wall, bro. Like the ability to

557
00:45:19.600 --> 00:45:26.400
somehow, my brain, I'm sure yours must work the same way. When shit is really fucking bad,

558
00:45:26.400 --> 00:45:31.520
that's where the brilliance comes out. And you know, sometimes it takes that pressure man,

559
00:45:31.520 --> 00:45:37.680
sometimes it takes that real pressure to really think. And also push us into the positions that

560
00:45:37.680 --> 00:45:42.480
we're meant to be in. You know, that's an incredible story. I mean one thing that I got a lot of,

561
00:45:43.840 --> 00:45:48.160
you just, you just kept showing up. Like you just don't fucking stop. You just don't, bro.

562
00:45:48.160 --> 00:45:52.160
Yeah, when you got to pay back 150 fucking grand, like what do you do? You got to show the

563
00:45:52.160 --> 00:45:58.080
fuck I figured out. Otherwise, like at that level, that ruin your life. I don't even think of it

564
00:45:58.080 --> 00:46:02.080
from the standpoint, like I have to keep reminding myself why you're talking. I'm like, he was

565
00:46:02.080 --> 00:46:09.120
fucking 26, 26, he's 26. Like and thinking like, you know, the day and age that we're in right now

566
00:46:09.120 --> 00:46:13.840
in society, I can't think of another 26 year old that would fucking be able to do it.

567
00:46:14.800 --> 00:46:18.640
I can't think of a 36 year old that what, you know what I'm saying? Like I'm like, listen,

568
00:46:18.640 --> 00:46:22.960
what separates that mentality from just not fucking quitting? What, what, what is the separator?

569
00:46:24.320 --> 00:46:29.440
I have two cents on it. Yeah, just for the record, I do think that there are some savages out there.

570
00:46:29.440 --> 00:46:35.200
Yeah, I agree. Yeah, but you just don't, you don't really record it. Look dude, nobody knew who

571
00:46:35.200 --> 00:46:39.440
Alex Hermosi was when he was doing Alex Hermosi building Alex Hermosi. Nobody fucking knew.

572
00:46:39.520 --> 00:46:43.680
Nobody knew Andy forseller was when he was learning this shit. Like nobody fucking knew.

573
00:46:43.680 --> 00:46:47.760
There's plenty of people out there right now that are fucking, especially with the technology

574
00:46:47.760 --> 00:46:54.720
that we have that are 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 years old that are fucking savage motherfuckers.

575
00:46:54.720 --> 00:47:00.400
And dude, this is why I go so hard on the technology. I'm like, dude, do not get yourself funnel

576
00:47:00.400 --> 00:47:06.000
into a one trick pony where, you know, because what you've done well, and this is this is a very,

577
00:47:06.000 --> 00:47:11.120
this, you're the example of what I try to tell these young, these young bucks is like, look dude,

578
00:47:12.160 --> 00:47:16.640
you, yes, you know, Facebook ads, yes, you know, ecom, yes, you know, that's a tool.

579
00:47:16.640 --> 00:47:21.840
That's not the brand. And if you can, like what Alex has done is leveraged his one tool

580
00:47:22.480 --> 00:47:27.440
into many skill sets into branding that now he's doing, and we're going to get to that now,

581
00:47:27.440 --> 00:47:32.880
do an amazing shit with. But dude, I love hearing this. I fucking love it because

582
00:47:33.200 --> 00:47:38.400
it's very, very parallel dude. It's very parallel man. I think a lot of times the, because

583
00:47:39.280 --> 00:47:43.040
it depends who you talk to, but sometimes people talk about how like the hard times build you.

584
00:47:43.920 --> 00:47:47.920
I'm not sure if I totally agree. I think a lot of times the hard times reveal you.

585
00:47:49.200 --> 00:47:52.880
Like I think a lot of people have that savage that's inside and they just haven't had the

586
00:47:52.880 --> 00:47:58.080
environment to pull it out to pull it out. Yeah. And then give themselves evidence that it's there.

587
00:47:58.640 --> 00:48:05.280
But like to your point, what you were saying earlier, like I knew just on like whatever

588
00:48:05.280 --> 00:48:09.600
whatever the level that is that like I didn't know when I would be successful,

589
00:48:10.480 --> 00:48:15.200
but I did know that I wasn't going to stop. And like I feel like that, I don't know if that

590
00:48:15.200 --> 00:48:23.440
comes off the way. I understand what you mean. Yeah, I just knew I was like, I just know that

591
00:48:23.440 --> 00:48:28.960
I won't stop. Like that I can commit to. I was like, I just won't stop. When I was growing up dude,

592
00:48:28.960 --> 00:48:34.880
like when when you were growing up, like as a kid, were you ambitious around like making money and

593
00:48:34.880 --> 00:48:41.680
stuff? Like entrepreneurial minded? No. Really? Really? But what I did want to do is make my dad proud.

594
00:48:41.680 --> 00:48:47.040
Yeah. And so that was my, you know, driving force. And then, you know, I won't, I won't get into

595
00:48:47.040 --> 00:48:51.760
the the the nitty gritty, but basically like I think you either have to have a really big carrot,

596
00:48:51.760 --> 00:48:55.680
which everyone talks about like finding your passion, whatever. And like I actually am pretty against

597
00:48:55.680 --> 00:49:02.240
it. And I'll make my point a second. But like I think that most people who are like in the beginning

598
00:49:02.240 --> 00:49:07.040
of the game, like you don't have a passion yet. Most of you, like most people are like, man,

599
00:49:07.040 --> 00:49:12.640
I just love this one thing. But everybody has shit loads of pain. Like that, like a lot of people

600
00:49:12.640 --> 00:49:16.000
can't find passion. Like can you find pain? And they're like, yeah, I got a lot to that. I got

601
00:49:16.000 --> 00:49:19.760
anger. I got shame on paying whatever it is. I'm like, cool. Well, the first rule of entrepreneurship

602
00:49:19.760 --> 00:49:25.840
is use what you got. And so like if that's what you got, then burn that. Yeah. Like you don't

603
00:49:25.840 --> 00:49:29.520
need necessarily find this passion, like this beautiful carrot, because that to me, that's not what

604
00:49:29.520 --> 00:49:33.120
got me going. That's not what got me going. It was the mission of Jim launch. Don't be broke,

605
00:49:33.120 --> 00:49:36.240
Alex. That was the mission of Jim. Like you're like, what was the big fish? I was like, I had no

606
00:49:36.240 --> 00:49:40.640
vision. It was like, don't fucking lose all my money. Like that was the whole vision. Yeah. And so

607
00:49:42.080 --> 00:49:48.560
all that, all that to say, like for me, I think it was like a way from fear, which is like I

608
00:49:49.760 --> 00:49:54.960
I was, I knew like in my bones that I would rather die than go back home, like, failed. And then

609
00:49:54.960 --> 00:50:00.160
have to like basically do it. And your option mentality. Yeah, my options. My dad, I knew that like,

610
00:50:00.160 --> 00:50:03.840
it was the hardest thing for me to leave home, because like my dad had a lot of influence. And I

611
00:50:03.840 --> 00:50:07.040
say this is not a bad way. Like he just wondered what was best for me. It's a strong evolution

612
00:50:07.040 --> 00:50:11.440
father. I had no siblings, basically no mom. So it's just me and him. And so like, imagine all of

613
00:50:11.440 --> 00:50:15.200
the authority power that you have in your life and all the love that you have for your siblings,

614
00:50:15.200 --> 00:50:20.240
it's just with one person. So like his opinion mattered a lot to me. And he did not want me to do

615
00:50:20.240 --> 00:50:26.000
this. And so like I defied him to go do this gym thing. And I was afraid, which is why I left and

616
00:50:26.000 --> 00:50:31.040
didn't tell him until I was already physically gone. Which obviously he wasn't happy about. And

617
00:50:31.040 --> 00:50:36.320
like that kind of put a little bit of a riff in our relationship for a long time. But like I just

618
00:50:36.320 --> 00:50:40.640
was like, I won't, I just like, I don't want to prove I'm right. I was like, I'm not going to

619
00:50:40.640 --> 00:50:44.080
let him be right about this. Like I will just keep fucking going. And I almost was happy if we didn't

620
00:50:44.080 --> 00:50:47.120
talk because I was like, it just gives me more time to keep doing it. I didn't want to update him

621
00:50:47.120 --> 00:50:51.840
because I was fucking sucking. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We're using money. Bro, I agree with you dude.

622
00:50:51.840 --> 00:50:56.560
Like I think there's, I think, and this is, you know, I caught a lot of heat about this for a long

623
00:50:56.560 --> 00:51:02.240
time till people figured out who I was. But like, you know, when I started making content, like

624
00:51:02.240 --> 00:51:08.000
they got recognized back in like 2015, everybody thought it was fucking insane because I would talk

625
00:51:08.000 --> 00:51:11.920
about like the dark side, right? Like dude, like listen, I'm going to shove it down your fucking

626
00:51:11.920 --> 00:51:16.320
throat. Like that's what the fuck I'm going to do. I'm going to fucking do that forever. Like and

627
00:51:16.320 --> 00:51:22.160
I still, I'm still that way. Like I just don't talk about it that way anymore. Like now when I see

628
00:51:22.160 --> 00:51:25.760
someone say, Oh, you're not, you're crazy. Like you're not going to build the next Nike. You're in

629
00:51:25.760 --> 00:51:30.880
my fucker. Just sit there and watch like you've been watching for the last 20 fucking years. Give

630
00:51:30.880 --> 00:51:35.120
me another 20 and we'll see where the fuck I am. You know what I'm saying? Like I have no problem

631
00:51:35.120 --> 00:51:41.120
with that. And I feel like the use what you got is what's gotten me here. You know, now I do feel

632
00:51:41.120 --> 00:51:48.240
like when you get to a point of where you have to, you have to manage many humans,

633
00:51:48.880 --> 00:51:54.560
hundreds of humans, thousands of humans, there has to be a, there has to be a mission and a

634
00:51:54.560 --> 00:52:00.320
purpose to motivate and, and propel people in that direction. Like if I walked into my, my

635
00:52:00.320 --> 00:52:05.840
meeting and I said, Well, fuck, we're in a fucking crush. I'm like, that was it. Like everybody's

636
00:52:05.840 --> 00:52:13.600
like, yeah, but like who? Like so, you know, and I do feel like there's a, I feel like

637
00:52:15.440 --> 00:52:20.240
you know, there's a point to where that transitions, right? But, but dude, I totally agree. And I

638
00:52:20.240 --> 00:52:24.800
agree with the, with your perspective on the, on the revealing too. I think there's a little

639
00:52:24.800 --> 00:52:31.440
of both there. I think the hard times definitely, like dude, that whole time, right? That did build you

640
00:52:32.000 --> 00:52:35.920
because like look at all the reps and all the skills you learned, right? They've carried through.

641
00:52:36.480 --> 00:52:40.960
And I bet, you know, you probably learned more during that time than probably any other time.

642
00:52:42.160 --> 00:52:47.840
I know for me, that was true. You know, I learned more the first 12 or 13 years I was in business

643
00:52:47.840 --> 00:52:54.240
where I really got my ASP that I've learned in the last, you know, 12 or 13.

644
00:52:55.040 --> 00:53:02.960
But I do think that's true, dude. I do think a lot of people don't put themselves in a position

645
00:53:02.960 --> 00:53:08.320
to ever truly know what they're actually capable of. They quit too early. Or they're just too,

646
00:53:08.320 --> 00:53:15.440
too afraid of the discomfort. You know, like I think people tend to look at risk the wrong way.

647
00:53:15.440 --> 00:53:18.560
Like a lot of people say, well, what's going to happen if I do this? And I think the question

648
00:53:18.560 --> 00:53:22.560
really is what's going to happen if I don't do this? I've always thought that way. That's how I

649
00:53:22.560 --> 00:53:28.640
always think. If I get a big idea in my head that I think needs to happen and it scares me,

650
00:53:28.640 --> 00:53:32.480
my question is never like, what am I going to lose if I go after it? It's what's going to happen

651
00:53:32.480 --> 00:53:37.120
to me if I don't do it. It's always been that way. But I think there's, I think you look at it both

652
00:53:37.120 --> 00:53:46.880
ways. You know, that entire story is so, it's just so relatable to what I've been through to be

653
00:53:46.880 --> 00:53:52.080
where we are. It's just, it's fucking cool to sit here and listen to it. I want to do the guy.

654
00:53:52.160 --> 00:53:57.280
So the first, the old gentleman that thought you did, like whatever happened to him. Nothing.

655
00:53:58.080 --> 00:54:02.880
No, he just, he just continues to do what he did then. Yeah, bro, sometimes you, you got to

656
00:54:02.880 --> 00:54:06.160
chalk those things up too, dude. Like, because like, you got to just chalk, like, because I've

657
00:54:06.160 --> 00:54:14.880
been burned like that too. Yeah. And, you know, real talk, like, I'm not going to say what I was

658
00:54:14.960 --> 00:54:19.920
going to say, because like, those people don't get away from me. So, but, uh,

659
00:54:21.680 --> 00:54:25.920
but you can't let it eat you up, man. You can't let it fucking eat you up. You got to look at

660
00:54:25.920 --> 00:54:32.560
it as what it learned. Yeah. And, uh, when you, when you, when you fucking, when you said, uh,

661
00:54:35.200 --> 00:54:40.880
I, I forgot what you said exactly, but you said something about him not

662
00:54:41.760 --> 00:54:45.360
are doing this in the past or something like, I'm like, oh, here we go.

663
00:54:45.360 --> 00:54:48.000
Yeah. Yeah. You knew it. It was like, of course. Yeah.

664
00:54:48.800 --> 00:54:53.200
Fuck, it's brutal. People are brutal, dude. Yeah. They don't give a fuck, especially when

665
00:54:53.200 --> 00:54:57.040
there's large sums of money involved or perceive large sums of money. You know, and you can

666
00:54:57.040 --> 00:55:00.880
tell a lot about people too, what they, how they judge large sums of money. Like, that guy's a

667
00:55:00.880 --> 00:55:05.760
fucking idiot, because how do you fucking, how do you stuck with Alex? This guy would be worth

668
00:55:05.840 --> 00:55:09.200
a hundred fucking million dollars right now or more. Yeah. You know what I'm saying?

669
00:55:09.200 --> 00:55:13.440
Yeah. Or way more. So anyway, so what happened after this?

670
00:55:13.440 --> 00:55:18.640
And to that point, you know, I had a, a, a mentor that I was just kind of like talking my life

671
00:55:18.640 --> 00:55:25.200
through at this point, which was like in shambles. Um, and he was like, all you do is do right by

672
00:55:25.200 --> 00:55:29.360
everyone. He's like, and then he's like, the only way you can walk out of this is by knowing that

673
00:55:29.360 --> 00:55:33.280
you don't have any strings in the back your mind of like, something's going to come back. He's like,

674
00:55:33.360 --> 00:55:36.960
you have to write every one of those refund checks. You have to write, you handle every charge back.

675
00:55:36.960 --> 00:55:40.640
He's like, pay every debtor or whatever. You know, like everybody you owe, he's like, he's like,

676
00:55:40.640 --> 00:55:43.680
he's like, because then you'll walk out clean. He's like, it's the only way you can, you can,

677
00:55:43.680 --> 00:55:47.680
you can get out of it. And so I, that's, that's what we did during that. That's when I, you know,

678
00:55:47.680 --> 00:55:51.360
gave Layla the checkbook and all that kind of stuff. And then I had a, a different mentor was actually

679
00:55:51.360 --> 00:55:54.400
my high school. It was just 15 years old, but it was always just like less than anything.

680
00:55:54.400 --> 00:55:58.720
So I was like, I, I'm sure like many of us like, when you're younger, a little angrier, right?

681
00:55:58.720 --> 00:56:03.280
Yeah. It's get really pent up about some guys who I just thought were like douchebags to me.

682
00:56:03.840 --> 00:56:06.880
And I was like, man, I can't wait to come back for our 10 year high school reunion. I was like,

683
00:56:06.880 --> 00:56:11.760
I'm going to show them like, blah, blah, blah. And he's like, no, you're not. Yeah. He's like, if

684
00:56:11.760 --> 00:56:15.280
you go up to somebody at a 10 year high school reunion and you say, like, look what I've done,

685
00:56:15.280 --> 00:56:18.160
motherfucker. He's like, they're going to be like, you've been thinking about me this whole time.

686
00:56:18.160 --> 00:56:22.800
Yeah. He's like, he's just, just remember this. He's like, success is the only revenge.

687
00:56:22.800 --> 00:56:27.040
That's right. And like, he's like, and all you do, he's like, is you just become bigger than them?

688
00:56:27.120 --> 00:56:31.360
He's like, so that who they are in reference to you shrinks into a relevance. Yeah.

689
00:56:31.360 --> 00:56:34.320
He's like, so you don't, he's like, you don't crush them. He's like, you shrink them in comparison

690
00:56:34.320 --> 00:56:38.320
to you. That's right. And that was like that, like whenever I had like these hard, hard

691
00:56:38.320 --> 00:56:43.280
situations like with that, you know, with that gentleman, like the goal was like, I'll just be

692
00:56:43.280 --> 00:56:59.920
so big that he will become a relative. Yeah. And so I, that's at least how I handle that.