WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.680 Most of you are welcome to part two of the podcast that I did with Tanner Chitester. 2 00:00:03.680 --> 00:00:07.600 On this podcast, I was talking about how do hard customers profitably and the formula and mindset 3 00:00:07.600 --> 00:00:10.640 and models that I use to do that in every business that I have encountered to date. 4 00:00:10.640 --> 00:00:12.560 I hope they serve you as much as they have served me. 5 00:00:12.560 --> 00:00:17.200 If you can actually just narrow it down instead of making it faceless like everyone's opinion, 6 00:00:17.200 --> 00:00:21.680 but like who's that one person who's opinion you care about, then it's asking a more pointed 7 00:00:21.680 --> 00:00:27.600 question which is like, is my opinion of what my father thinks of me more valuable than what I 8 00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:32.240 think of me. Welcome to the game where we talk about how to get more customers, how to make 9 00:00:32.240 --> 00:00:35.680 more customers, how to keep them longer, and the many failures and lessons we have learned 10 00:00:35.680 --> 00:00:42.480 along the way. I hope you enjoy and subscribe. Your business is a thing that impresses me the most 11 00:00:42.480 --> 00:00:48.880 is the fact of how much scale you've had with essentially not maybe wrong, but in your portfolio, 12 00:00:48.880 --> 00:00:56.480 I still believe you don't run hardly any apps. That's accurate, right? Overall. That is accurate. 13 00:00:56.880 --> 00:01:00.880 One of the companies runs a lot of ads, not too much, different components. 14 00:01:00.880 --> 00:01:06.400 One that I want to say. To me, that's the most impressive and the reason is I thought my profit 15 00:01:06.400 --> 00:01:11.040 margins were high and then I heard cheers and I go, well, shit, I guess if I didn't run ads, 16 00:01:11.040 --> 00:01:18.320 they'd be that high too. Then what impresses me further is the amount of scale. When you're starting 17 00:01:18.320 --> 00:01:22.560 these businesses, did you just figure out a formula and then you make sure these businesses fit 18 00:01:22.640 --> 00:01:26.880 that formula or did it just so happen that you'd start a business and you're like, how can we get 19 00:01:26.880 --> 00:01:31.280 these leads without paying for them? I think it's both those thought processes, honestly. 20 00:01:31.920 --> 00:01:36.960 In terms of the checkboxes for business, I have five that I look at. It's my little 21 00:01:36.960 --> 00:01:42.000 moniker. It's unique, expensive, sticky air and managed with a person of integrity who is a long-term 22 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:46.640 mindset. There's the five things on Packer Oakback. Unique is something that we have a unique thing 23 00:01:46.640 --> 00:01:50.240 that only we can do that we have a unique, and it might not even be the thing that's different, 24 00:01:50.240 --> 00:01:53.520 but do we have a unique story that can still differentiate us? For me and Jim wants, there's 25 00:01:53.520 --> 00:01:58.000 nobody who's had as many Jim's as I have or who did two years of turn around. That's a unique angle 26 00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:03.840 that I know that I'm better at. Expensive is going to be just a function of pricing and it's more 27 00:02:03.840 --> 00:02:08.080 than it is expensive in an absolute terms. What is the gross profit of the business? 28 00:02:08.800 --> 00:02:13.280 Which has a function to do with the second thing, unique expensive, sticky air and the air is 29 00:02:13.280 --> 00:02:18.880 this, the fourth thing is basically no marginal cost. How can I sell something that costs almost nothing? 30 00:02:18.880 --> 00:02:23.760 So that I don't want to have 80% or 90% margins. I want to have 97 and a half percent gross margins, 31 00:02:23.760 --> 00:02:29.200 and the difference between a 90% gross margin and a 95% gross margin business is twice. That's 32 00:02:29.200 --> 00:02:34.240 what everyone fucks up. A 95% gross margin business is twice as profitable as a 90% gross margin 33 00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:39.520 business, because it means I would have to sell twice as many units. For each increment of cost, 34 00:02:39.520 --> 00:02:45.120 I can sell two versus one, and that is why it's twice. It's not 5%, and everyone messes that up. 35 00:02:45.120 --> 00:02:49.680 So unique, expensive, sticky is how can I make it recurring and have some sort of habit forming 36 00:02:49.680 --> 00:02:53.600 component to it, and either it's recurring because of the model or because of how good the product is. 37 00:02:54.480 --> 00:02:57.680 So how can I have some element of recurring that's going to come into it, right? So unique, 38 00:02:57.680 --> 00:03:01.520 expensive, sticky air, those are the four, and then managed by someone who has integrity with a long 39 00:03:01.520 --> 00:03:06.480 term perspective. And then that way, they'll make the right calls at the right time and not sacrifice 40 00:03:06.480 --> 00:03:10.560 short term for a quick pop. And so that's in terms of like the businesses that I'm looking at. 41 00:03:10.560 --> 00:03:14.320 In terms of the question about how do we have such low ad spend related to our revenue? 42 00:03:14.800 --> 00:03:20.720 So this has been evolved over time, having spoken with all the guys I know were worth 250 million 43 00:03:20.720 --> 00:03:27.200 and up. What was interesting to me is that the vast majority of them want to do one time inputs 44 00:03:27.200 --> 00:03:32.720 with compounding returns. And so most people do the opposite. They do things that they have, 45 00:03:32.720 --> 00:03:36.320 like spending money on advertising, for example, you have to come up with a whole campaign, 46 00:03:36.320 --> 00:03:40.240 you have to write all the copy, you have to put money in it, and then it stops working eventually, 47 00:03:40.240 --> 00:03:44.640 right? And you have to do it again, and it stops working eventually. Now, I'll contrast that with, 48 00:03:44.640 --> 00:03:49.600 I'm going to write a book and it has to be so good that on its own, if I give it to 10 people, 49 00:03:49.600 --> 00:03:54.640 that more than 10 people will get it as a result of those first 10 people. So each of those 10 50 00:03:54.640 --> 00:03:58.400 people sends it to two people, and those people send it to two people. And so right now, this book 51 00:03:58.400 --> 00:04:05.040 was almost a test for me of that concept, given the book and the course, and that has actually worked. 52 00:04:05.040 --> 00:04:10.240 So I mean, one post on Instagram, and that was my promotion. I've run no ads for this book, 53 00:04:10.240 --> 00:04:14.880 and it's selling 1,000 copies a day. It's nuts, right? I mean, 1,000 copies, you can multiply the 54 00:04:14.880 --> 00:04:21.840 math, like it's a lot, right? But there's no advertising. None. And so to round that point off, 55 00:04:21.840 --> 00:04:27.280 if you look at the six ways of getting customers, right? So you have paid ads, you have urge media, 56 00:04:27.280 --> 00:04:30.880 which is the followers that we all have, right? We have owned media, which is all the people who've 57 00:04:30.880 --> 00:04:35.040 given us permission to contact them. So all of our, all of our, the followers in their inboxes, 58 00:04:35.040 --> 00:04:39.440 the DMs, et cetera, your phone contacts, CRM. And then you've got manual op-out, I know you 59 00:04:39.440 --> 00:04:43.600 know this, I'm just saying this for everyone else, manual op-out, which is the actual cold DM. So 60 00:04:43.600 --> 00:04:47.440 same concept, but we're doing it to on a 101 basis to people who haven't given us permission. 61 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:51.600 We have affiliates, so people already have the pool of customers that we have that we can partner 62 00:04:51.600 --> 00:04:55.120 with and make a full integration to their business, and they can keep sending us new clients. 63 00:04:55.120 --> 00:04:59.920 And then finally, you have word of mouth and referrals, right? Now, if I were to ask the audience, 64 00:04:59.920 --> 00:05:05.760 right, which of those is quadratic compared to which of those is linear, which of the six is which? 65 00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:10.560 They might think for a second, because we're only talking and I can't see the comments, 66 00:05:10.560 --> 00:05:15.520 I will answer the question, right? Referrals, word of mouth is the only one is quadratic. 67 00:05:16.320 --> 00:05:20.880 So if I put a dollar in advertising and I get $10 back, then I get, then I put $100 and I get 68 00:05:20.880 --> 00:05:26.080 $1,000 back. It is linear in the relationship, right? It's a straight line. Same thing with 69 00:05:26.080 --> 00:05:29.840 outbound. If I do 100 calls versus 200 calls versus 1000 calls, and that's the same, 70 00:05:29.840 --> 00:05:35.600 same response rate, more or less, love large numbers. With referrals, if we make the product good 71 00:05:35.600 --> 00:05:40.480 enough, then I can give it to one person, and that person gives it to two, two, give it to four, 72 00:05:40.480 --> 00:05:44.480 four, give it to eight, and then it multiplies. It's quadratic, right? And so when I look at the people 73 00:05:44.480 --> 00:05:48.800 who make the most money, they spend all of their time or disproportionate amount of their time 74 00:05:48.800 --> 00:05:52.560 truly getting product market fit. And a lot of people talk about product market fit, but they don't 75 00:05:52.640 --> 00:05:57.920 actually ever achieve it. They get their idea of product market fit is that people are buying it. 76 00:05:57.920 --> 00:06:02.800 That is not the way that product market fit is actually determined. Product market fit is actually 77 00:06:02.800 --> 00:06:06.400 determined based on the fact that these customers stay and continue to pay and want to buy more. 78 00:06:07.360 --> 00:06:11.600 That's a fine product market fit. And so the idea is we shouldn't be promoting just enough 79 00:06:11.600 --> 00:06:16.400 to keep fixing the product until the product itself does enough selling force that it becomes 80 00:06:16.400 --> 00:06:21.280 a virtuous cycle. But most people just learn how to make that first dollar and then try and max out, 81 00:06:21.280 --> 00:06:24.400 and then they're really disappointed by the fact that they're not making as much money or profit 82 00:06:24.400 --> 00:06:29.760 as they'd like to make, and then also feel shady about it. And so when I look at that, if I'm trying 83 00:06:29.760 --> 00:06:34.240 to build something that has compounding returns, it's like, how can I take a one-time effort 84 00:06:34.240 --> 00:06:37.840 and really go all in on the product? I know enough about promotion now to make sure that I can get 85 00:06:37.840 --> 00:06:42.640 the first sales through. And then keep tweaking this until eventually it is good enough 86 00:06:42.640 --> 00:06:47.040 that I get an outsized return on any effort I do, and then at that point, I'll turn the other 87 00:06:47.040 --> 00:06:52.000 ones on. Because then making the advertising profitable is basically inevitable because for every 88 00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:55.920 customer getting a good one or two more customers. Yeah, the biggest lessons I've learned from you 89 00:06:55.920 --> 00:07:02.560 recently is I mean, simply, I've seen that. So I'm like, what can I do different to where I don't 90 00:07:02.560 --> 00:07:09.600 have to market? Because I can market, but I cannot outbeat that performance with marketing. And then 91 00:07:09.600 --> 00:07:14.560 also it's wrapping my head around, okay, maybe these offers, what do I have to do to change these 92 00:07:14.560 --> 00:07:19.680 offers? What new offer would I need to hit that criteria? And because I have a lot of experience, 93 00:07:19.680 --> 00:07:24.240 I think it's easier for me to wrap my head around that, but that to me is like what I've seen is 94 00:07:24.240 --> 00:07:29.840 it's like, he's doing stuff in a way where it's like, oh, it's funny, where it's like, we don't 95 00:07:29.840 --> 00:07:35.760 really have to do anything to sell this. The cold calling, especially I think, is absolutely 96 00:07:35.760 --> 00:07:39.520 ridiculous, right? That you can call someone that offers so good, you're just like, yeah, 97 00:07:39.520 --> 00:07:43.920 we'll just kind of do it with you, whatever if it doesn't want to pay us. And they're like, all right, 98 00:07:44.080 --> 00:07:48.800 we'll do it. And it's brilliant. It's brilliant. One of the questions I wanted to ask is, 99 00:07:48.800 --> 00:07:52.960 you know, in the book, and I understand this, but you said, if your company isn't growing, it's 100 00:07:52.960 --> 00:07:57.680 dying. And I think some people don't understand that they think like, well, my company's here, 101 00:07:57.680 --> 00:08:01.920 like, it's not, can you, can you give maybe an example? Because you said it really with black 102 00:08:01.920 --> 00:08:07.760 white in the book that people can understand what you mean by that statement. So if you look at the 103 00:08:07.760 --> 00:08:13.440 like the marketplace in general, the marketplace is growing at 10% of you, right? And so if you 104 00:08:13.440 --> 00:08:18.240 are not growing by 10% year, relative to the market, you are shrinking. And so that means that you 105 00:08:18.240 --> 00:08:23.760 are dying. And I use grow or die as a very polarizing term because it's memorable, right? But 106 00:08:23.760 --> 00:08:28.320 fundamentally, most businesses, if they are not adapting or innovating, we all get outpaced by 107 00:08:28.320 --> 00:08:32.320 the marketplace and then eventually vanish into nothingness. And so the idea is that we must 108 00:08:32.320 --> 00:08:36.880 continually grow and must continually innovate to keep our products sharp and top of the game. 109 00:08:37.760 --> 00:08:42.560 And have you ever had, you know, a time in your business where I finally saw it this year, 110 00:08:42.720 --> 00:08:46.400 where I feel like this was the first year where I was like, man, I got to start changing, 111 00:08:46.400 --> 00:08:50.160 or we're not going to keep going up. Have you had that happening in your business at all? 112 00:08:51.120 --> 00:08:56.000 Well, yeah, I got kicked in the notes during code because I stripped gyms. But I didn't know you, 113 00:08:56.000 --> 00:09:00.240 I didn't know you well enough then, but I remember I said in distinct prayer and I was like, 114 00:09:00.240 --> 00:09:02.480 thank you, Lord, I'm not Alex Hermosey during this. 115 00:09:05.680 --> 00:09:08.960 So yes, you know what I mean, I definitely, you know, I've definitely experienced it. 116 00:09:09.520 --> 00:09:13.760 In the book, you know, your dad questions whether what you were doing were legal, you know, 117 00:09:13.760 --> 00:09:19.040 after one of the pictures from your events. So you then initially have that support from your 118 00:09:19.040 --> 00:09:23.440 family. What would you say to people who are watching and are kind of in that same boat? 119 00:09:23.440 --> 00:09:28.480 And I see it's a lot with beginners to how to deal with that because I think it's easy to maybe say 120 00:09:28.480 --> 00:09:33.520 now, but I know when I started, I don't know how you felt, but I got very close to quitting a few 121 00:09:33.600 --> 00:09:38.400 times, which in retrospect is crazy. But you know, getting kicked in the nuts over and over is 122 00:09:38.400 --> 00:09:40.560 tough. How did you deal with it or how did you deal with it? 123 00:09:41.600 --> 00:09:44.240 Such a visual. Just getting kicked in the nuts over and over again. 124 00:09:45.120 --> 00:09:45.920 Especially you. 125 00:09:46.960 --> 00:09:50.880 So I'm briefly sure the story that got me got me started because I think it might have relevance 126 00:09:50.880 --> 00:09:55.040 because for me, the hardest decision was actually quitting my job. So that was the hardest 127 00:09:55.040 --> 00:09:59.360 decision I had to make because I was actually a very good student. I graduated from Vanderbilt, 128 00:09:59.360 --> 00:10:05.120 Magical Mouting in three years. And I got a good job as a management consultant and I got 129 00:10:05.120 --> 00:10:09.360 paid good money. And so I had I pretty much had done everything that I was told to do up to that 130 00:10:09.360 --> 00:10:14.400 point. I was president of a fraternity. I, you know, I mean, I was editor of the things like I 131 00:10:14.400 --> 00:10:19.440 did all that stuff, right? And so I'd followed everyone's path and I was miserable. And so I remember 132 00:10:19.440 --> 00:10:25.680 I was looking out on my balcony because I owned a condo in a high rise. I was 22 and I all I could 133 00:10:25.680 --> 00:10:31.280 think about was how I just didn't want to be alive. And so it was and that's why I say like a lot 134 00:10:31.280 --> 00:10:35.680 of my decisions have been in the face of my mortality because it's like apparently the only thing they 135 00:10:35.680 --> 00:10:41.120 get me to move. And so, and so one I was faced with the fact that like I was like if I'm driving 136 00:10:41.120 --> 00:10:44.160 tomorrow, I was like I could just accidentally go on the other lane and like it would be all right. 137 00:10:44.160 --> 00:10:47.680 Like no one would know, no, no, it would be fine. And I wouldn't wake up and it would be over, 138 00:10:47.680 --> 00:10:52.400 right? And so the thing is just like this kind of passive ideation was something that like occupied 139 00:10:52.400 --> 00:10:56.880 a lot of my time. And so I was like, it got to the point where I was in so much pain of just living 140 00:10:56.880 --> 00:11:01.760 this existence that I didn't want to live. That I was like, well, at least if I start a business, 141 00:11:01.760 --> 00:11:05.920 it'll be doing something that I like and I won't like I won't be thinking about fucking killing 142 00:11:05.920 --> 00:11:10.240 myself every day. And so that was really that was like was when I was faced with my mortality of like, 143 00:11:10.240 --> 00:11:14.480 well, I've got the judgment of my parents. I was like where I could die. And I was like, well, 144 00:11:15.440 --> 00:11:19.520 I guess judgment of parents is better than death. And so that was how like straight up, 145 00:11:19.520 --> 00:11:24.480 that was how I made the decision. But then even when I did make the decision, I still had the same 146 00:11:24.480 --> 00:11:30.560 level of like fear of failure and judgment. And I told you so. And I would've been right all along 147 00:11:30.560 --> 00:11:35.280 and you should have listened to me that I never wanted to hear. And so when I started the business, 148 00:11:35.840 --> 00:11:42.880 it was just that fear that I had so much anxiety every hour of every day, which is why I didn't 149 00:11:42.880 --> 00:11:49.280 take a vacation until December of 2019. Hey guys, real quick, if you're new to the podcast, 150 00:11:49.280 --> 00:11:54.400 I have a book on Amazon called 100 million dollar offers that over 8,000 five star reviews 151 00:11:54.400 --> 00:11:58.320 and it has almost a perfect score. You can get it for 99 cents on Kindle. The reason I bring it up 152 00:11:58.320 --> 00:12:02.320 is that I put over a thousand hours into writing that book. And it's my biggest gift to our 153 00:12:02.320 --> 00:12:07.440 community. So it's my very shameless way of trying to get you to like me more and ultimately make 154 00:12:07.440 --> 00:12:11.680 more dollars to that later on in your business career. I can finish the part with you. So that's my 155 00:12:11.680 --> 00:12:19.360 gift. Go check it out. Amazon and back to the show. Yeah, I can I can relate to a lot of that. 156 00:12:19.360 --> 00:12:24.880 And I remember just deeply after finishing football. That was my whole life. I just want to play 157 00:12:24.880 --> 00:12:28.560 in the league. I mean, I was an engineering class out of year left. And I was like, 158 00:12:28.560 --> 00:12:33.280 oh, this can this just is not going to work. And it really hit me because I was like, 159 00:12:33.280 --> 00:12:38.080 I was looking at that for the rest of my life. So I can 100% relate to that. I didn't even know 160 00:12:38.080 --> 00:12:42.320 that part about your story that you know. And for it to answer the question for the people who 161 00:12:42.320 --> 00:12:46.400 are struggling with like their parents stuff or their sister or whoever that person is. 162 00:12:47.360 --> 00:12:50.400 Like, I think the, because like a lot of people are like, I'm so afraid of what people think, 163 00:12:50.400 --> 00:12:54.640 but if you really narrow it down, there's only like two or three people whose opinions you actually 164 00:12:54.640 --> 00:12:59.040 care about. And maybe it's just one. And so then if you can actually just narrow it down instead of 165 00:12:59.040 --> 00:13:03.120 making it the faceless like everyone's opinion, but like who's that one person whose opinion you 166 00:13:03.200 --> 00:13:08.400 care about, then it's asking a more pointed question, which is like, is my opinion of what my 167 00:13:08.400 --> 00:13:14.240 father thinks of me more valuable than than what I think of me? And I think if you can answer that 168 00:13:14.240 --> 00:13:18.560 question, and hopefully it's like, I think what I think is more important than you can take that 169 00:13:18.560 --> 00:13:23.360 first step. I mean, I remember my dad called me, and this is after we'd probably taken home 20 170 00:13:23.360 --> 00:13:29.680 million at this point in and in this few years ago. And he was like, Hey, you might want to hear 171 00:13:29.760 --> 00:13:34.240 this. And I was like, what? I like stepped out from dinner. I was like, what? He was like, you 172 00:13:34.240 --> 00:13:40.960 ready? And I was like, yeah, he was like, I'm sorry. First time he's ever apologize. And I was like, 173 00:13:40.960 --> 00:13:46.880 for what? He was like, you know, for everything. He was like, you were right. He's like, 174 00:13:46.880 --> 00:13:52.240 but in my defense, if it had been in my time, I would have been like, are you saying sorry dad? 175 00:13:53.040 --> 00:13:58.720 Right. But I remember when he said that to me, though, that my response was I was like, 176 00:13:59.600 --> 00:14:04.080 you rooting for me now when literally everyone else in the world has already recognized that I'm good 177 00:14:04.080 --> 00:14:09.600 at this means nothing. And I was like, if I cared about your opinion, I would have never quit 178 00:14:09.600 --> 00:14:13.600 to begin with. And I was like, you know, when people can stand on stage, and the first thing they 179 00:14:13.600 --> 00:14:17.280 say is, Hey, mom and dad, thanks so much for always being there and believing me. I was like, I'm 180 00:14:17.280 --> 00:14:21.840 not going to fucking say that because you weren't. And I was like, so I'm glad that that's 181 00:14:21.840 --> 00:14:25.440 a apology made you feel better. I was like, but your opinion stopped mattering to me a little 182 00:14:25.440 --> 00:14:30.960 time. And so that was the conversation that I had with my father. Hopefully it was, you know, 183 00:14:30.960 --> 00:14:35.760 less targeted than that for everyone here. But I guess, you know, we'll conversation you want to 184 00:14:35.760 --> 00:14:40.800 have. And if you never quit, then you won't fail. And that is like, that's the prerequisite 185 00:14:40.800 --> 00:14:45.760 of entrepreneurship. If you do not quit, you won't fail. And so they can never say I told you so 186 00:14:45.760 --> 00:14:50.400 until the moment that you give up that just resonates with me so much like that's the number one 187 00:14:50.400 --> 00:14:55.600 thing. Like I say that all the time. And like as long as you don't quit and you don't have a mental 188 00:14:55.600 --> 00:15:00.240 disability seriously, and you can make decisions like that. Didn't work that didn't work. Don't 189 00:15:00.240 --> 00:15:05.360 do that again. You eventually will hit success. It's just time. That's it. It's just time. 190 00:15:06.160 --> 00:15:11.280 Do you think you made it without Leyla? So I had six gyms before about Leyla. You know what I mean? 191 00:15:11.280 --> 00:15:17.120 So I think I think I had I had a reasonable level of of competence, but I wouldn't have made it 192 00:15:17.680 --> 00:15:24.880 as big or it would have taken me much longer. Yeah. I mean, was it easier with her? Is oh my god. Yeah. 193 00:15:24.880 --> 00:15:30.800 I mean, everything blew up when I met Leyla. And that's because I always had half the equation, 194 00:15:30.800 --> 00:15:35.600 right? I didn't have the other half. And so half the equation is marketing and sales, right? 195 00:15:36.240 --> 00:15:43.600 And she had product operations with film. And so that was once I had that piece because I could always 196 00:15:43.600 --> 00:15:48.320 outsell my problems, but I just couldn't I couldn't keep people. I didn't know I didn't get that 197 00:15:48.320 --> 00:15:51.760 part yet, which is which might be funny for people listening to this compared to how I just talked 198 00:15:51.760 --> 00:15:56.080 about the first half of the talk, right? But like it was it's because I've learned that lesson, 199 00:15:56.080 --> 00:16:01.680 right? I've learned how much more powerful it is to not have to tell you it's so much more profitable 200 00:16:01.680 --> 00:16:05.680 to make the products exceptional and then get people to buy over and over and over again. 201 00:16:05.680 --> 00:16:10.320 You make so much more money. And so like, although I came up from the marketing and sales 202 00:16:10.320 --> 00:16:13.840 perspective, I would no longer consider myself that. I'm just much more of a business person now, 203 00:16:13.840 --> 00:16:20.720 at least I consider myself that way. But having Leyla as early as I did, I kind of got to leapfrog. 204 00:16:20.720 --> 00:16:24.240 A lot of the pain I otherwise would have had to figure out the hard way. It was just like, 205 00:16:24.880 --> 00:16:27.600 you take all that stuff because I don't like dealing with that. And she was like, okay, 206 00:16:27.680 --> 00:16:31.600 and that you crushed it. And so by doing that, it just blew up. And then in retrospect, 207 00:16:31.600 --> 00:16:35.600 I was like, oh, that was really important. I need to make sure that that's always there. 208 00:16:35.600 --> 00:16:40.080 And so now, when we create businesses, it's like front-end, back-end, shared ops. And we always 209 00:16:40.080 --> 00:16:44.320 have all three with everything that we do. And then that way, they work on the first try. 210 00:16:45.120 --> 00:16:49.200 Let me ask you this. I mean, a lot of people, I feel like I got a good concept of what you do now, 211 00:16:49.200 --> 00:16:52.960 but everyone's always like, what's the day in the live look like Alex? What do you do? 212 00:16:52.960 --> 00:16:56.640 So what does that kind of look like now that you know, you stepped out of most things and you're 213 00:16:56.640 --> 00:17:04.960 basically just being an owner? I mean, it's like, it's not a lot. So like today, I was reading 214 00:17:04.960 --> 00:17:11.680 this book. It's okay. It's not great. It's okay. You know, I was writing these books. I still have 215 00:17:11.680 --> 00:17:15.040 book two and book three that are written. I'm just going with the editing processes now for those. 216 00:17:15.680 --> 00:17:19.120 The only things that are set on my schedules that I'm meeting with the CEOs of the acquisition 217 00:17:19.120 --> 00:17:24.320 .com companies, I'm meeting with those guys once every week or every other week. And that's 218 00:17:24.400 --> 00:17:29.440 that's like, that's the majority of that's, that's like my, those are my half to do's and all the 219 00:17:29.440 --> 00:17:34.000 and everything else right now. My focus right now is promoting the book. You know, I wrote it. So 220 00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:37.920 I figure I should promote it a little bit. So Saturdays and Sundays, there's nothing. I usually 221 00:17:37.920 --> 00:17:41.680 have one or two days of the week that are completely blank. Monday, afternoons, this is when I do 222 00:17:41.680 --> 00:17:46.400 the meetings. So that was a nice tweak if you, if you are for everyone else here. So number one, 223 00:17:46.400 --> 00:17:52.320 a heart attack time in the, in the US is first thing Monday morning. And so mentor of mine, 224 00:17:52.960 --> 00:17:57.840 sold his company for 3.4 billion. He did heart rate variability on all of his executives. And 225 00:17:57.840 --> 00:18:00.800 he found out they were most stressed in the morning. So he just pushed all the meetings back 226 00:18:00.800 --> 00:18:06.320 until afternoon and everyone was okay. And so I can tell you, it changes the feeling of everything. 227 00:18:06.320 --> 00:18:11.280 It's weird. It's so weird. I just don't work Monday mornings. And like my first meetings that 228 00:18:11.280 --> 00:18:15.600 like, dude, that's so interesting. First time I've heard that I might have to try that. It's so 229 00:18:15.600 --> 00:18:20.480 interesting. It's weird. It's tripping. Like it's, you're like, I feel like I'm cheating. Like, 230 00:18:20.800 --> 00:18:24.000 I'm not stressed right now. And so all of a sudden, no one else is stressed either. And then it 231 00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:27.920 eliminates this false urgency. You feel because it's like first thing that got into stuff on Monday 232 00:18:27.920 --> 00:18:32.720 morning. It's like, no, you don't like because us deciding now versus four hours or now is going 233 00:18:32.720 --> 00:18:38.400 to change nothing. But like the stress levels go way down. So my Monday afternoon, it's been like 234 00:18:38.400 --> 00:18:43.200 three or four hours in meetings. And then I have Thursday mornings. I do a little bit. That's it. 235 00:18:44.560 --> 00:18:48.720 Final two questions, Alex. What's next for you? What's next for you? You got the portfolio 236 00:18:48.720 --> 00:18:52.960 companies you're just going to keep on. So what are you going to do next? Yeah. So that's 237 00:18:52.960 --> 00:18:57.600 a hundred percent of my focus was like, how can I play something? So I spent probably two years 238 00:18:57.600 --> 00:19:00.720 trying to think about what the next thing was going to be. I know you and I have had offline 239 00:19:00.720 --> 00:19:05.280 conversations about this. But like, I have no, I really have no more marginally Sony for money. So 240 00:19:05.920 --> 00:19:09.680 money only solves money problems. And once you've solved all the money problems that exist in 241 00:19:09.680 --> 00:19:15.280 your life, there's not a lot more that money can do. And I recently did my will and my state 242 00:19:15.280 --> 00:19:19.600 planer updated it. And like, I don't have kids and all the stuff that I have, I'm going to be 243 00:19:19.600 --> 00:19:24.880 donating anyway when I die. So like, there's really no reason for me to like, for me, the idea of 244 00:19:24.880 --> 00:19:29.200 legacy is kind of silly because in a hundred generations, my gene would be done even if I did have 245 00:19:29.200 --> 00:19:32.320 kids. And if I did have kids, I probably would be given the money because I think it ruins them, 246 00:19:32.320 --> 00:19:35.760 which means that I can't give the money to anyone anyways. And even if I did in a hundred 247 00:19:35.760 --> 00:19:39.040 generations, someone's going to remember who I was to begin with. So it doesn't really matter. 248 00:19:39.040 --> 00:19:45.920 So all that to say, I had to think like, what is my ideal day look like? And then how can I 249 00:19:45.920 --> 00:19:50.560 create a company that fits that? And that was, it was like a two year, I still have a note on 250 00:19:50.560 --> 00:19:55.680 my phone that has like 11 different big business ideas of what I was going to do next. And then 251 00:19:55.680 --> 00:20:01.280 piece by piece, I started crossing them out until I was like, the acquisition.com one just kept 252 00:20:01.280 --> 00:20:04.560 feeling right. It kept coming back to like, I would have moments where I was like, this one might 253 00:20:04.560 --> 00:20:09.280 be cooler, but I would always come back to that one. And so that's why that's why I think I'll be 254 00:20:09.280 --> 00:20:14.000 able to win with it because I keep coming back to it. And I think that I'll be able to do it for 255 00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:17.840 very long time. And so if I do it for very long time, then I think it'll grow much bigger than 256 00:20:17.840 --> 00:20:23.200 anything else I've done. So for everyone who's listening, we're acquiring minority positions in 257 00:20:23.200 --> 00:20:28.240 in education or training based companies that are really five million plus like five to 15-ish. 258 00:20:28.240 --> 00:20:32.720 The biggest company in the portfolio is doing 35 smallest companies doing eight million. So just 259 00:20:32.720 --> 00:20:37.920 for like context, but that's that's kind of the range. But five million plus is kind of the kind 260 00:20:37.920 --> 00:20:41.440 of at least where we kind of don't want. But yeah, so we're looking at those companies and saying, 261 00:20:41.440 --> 00:20:46.160 hey, we've already done this like a zillion times now. So, you know, helping someone get to 262 00:20:46.160 --> 00:20:49.840 30 million or 50 million or whatever, like we understand how they're done. Yeah, it doesn't 263 00:20:49.840 --> 00:20:54.960 isn't too difficult for you. So guys, Alex, thank you so much, man. Guys, make sure you go to Amazon, 264 00:20:55.040 --> 00:20:57.680 get his book. And then Alex, when are your next books dropped? 265 00:20:59.840 --> 00:21:01.600 You can't get that stuff up. 266 00:21:04.800 --> 00:21:08.880 The next the next book will drop when I think it's good enough that when people read it, 267 00:21:08.880 --> 00:21:14.480 they'll tell their friends. Fair enough. So, you know, I think I mean, it's it's done now. I have 268 00:21:14.480 --> 00:21:19.840 a whole rewrite in my head though. I've rewritten the second one three times now. So I'll probably 269 00:21:19.840 --> 00:21:23.600 end up rewriting it two more times. So I'll probably rewrite it one more time. When you're writing 270 00:21:23.680 --> 00:21:27.920 it, Alex, are you doing pretty much the heavy work as well? Like you're not getting a lot of help. 271 00:21:27.920 --> 00:21:32.560 I do everything. That's that's yeah, I do it. That's incredible. Yeah, because it's a lot of 272 00:21:32.560 --> 00:21:38.160 what you're watching this. It's not easy to write a book, by the way. So incredible. 273 00:21:38.160 --> 00:21:46.640 In a good book, it's even harder. Yeah. Yeah. It has to be so simple and so digestible that 274 00:21:46.640 --> 00:21:49.840 because like when I'm reading, because I've read this book a zillion times, because every time I 275 00:21:49.840 --> 00:21:55.600 edit it, I basically read it. It's like, where is it that my eyes, I get I gloss over like where is 276 00:21:55.600 --> 00:22:00.160 it where I lose interest or where is it that it's like chunky and it's like I have to rewrite it 277 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:05.360 and massage it and how can I break this idea? I give a different example. And I think what happened 278 00:22:05.360 --> 00:22:10.160 the reason I like the writing stuff so much is because I get better. You know, like I get better at 279 00:22:10.160 --> 00:22:15.760 explaining the concept. So like my depth of understanding, my perspective on on expertise is 280 00:22:15.760 --> 00:22:19.040 how deeply you understand the basics. I don't really think that there's a lot of advanced 281 00:22:19.040 --> 00:22:24.080 stuff in business. I think it's how deeply do you understand? Like people use the term value, 282 00:22:24.080 --> 00:22:28.160 right? For how long have you heard people say value and no one had a fucking equation for it? 283 00:22:29.360 --> 00:22:35.360 People really provide more value. Like what does that mean? Right? I mean, it's true. Like even 284 00:22:35.360 --> 00:22:40.080 that that equation, if you took out whole book and you gave me those two pages, that was when I got 285 00:22:40.080 --> 00:22:44.240 out of the book. That was worth the read for me because I was saying they're going. So if I just 286 00:22:44.320 --> 00:22:49.280 do one of these four things, then that makes it better and then it's easier to sell. And as soon 287 00:22:49.280 --> 00:22:54.480 as you start implementing it or I have at least already. And so that's what's interesting about that 288 00:22:54.480 --> 00:23:01.040 is that it ends up creating scalable enterprise, right? Because like you know how to build sales teams. 289 00:23:01.040 --> 00:23:06.560 I know how to build sales teams, right? But what really scale sales more easily rather than having 290 00:23:06.560 --> 00:23:10.880 absolutely savage sales people on that's very important and good and amazing sales training is 291 00:23:10.880 --> 00:23:14.640 just giving an offer that would be so easy to sell. And then all of a sudden, you don't have to 292 00:23:14.640 --> 00:23:18.640 take nearly as much time to ramp up. You don't have as much cost and sales that are not closed by 293 00:23:18.640 --> 00:23:23.040 a new closure when you put them on the roster. Like there's all these other costs that are mitigated 294 00:23:23.040 --> 00:23:26.560 when you have a much better offer and people are more convicted about it because they believe 295 00:23:27.280 --> 00:23:31.440 in what they're selling. Yeah, 100 percent. I've already seen that across the board. 296 00:23:31.440 --> 00:23:36.160 Well, dude, everyone please get us but thanks so much for your time, man. I know you're just so busy 297 00:23:36.160 --> 00:23:41.920 today. I left out the schedule. Guys, be on the lookout. I think I'll just do in 10 bucks, 298 00:23:41.920 --> 00:23:45.520 10 bucks. Yeah, he's going to be right in the portions. 299 00:23:46.400 --> 00:23:50.960 Absolute killer read. I loved it. That's part of why I wanted to do this. And he had a birthday 300 00:23:50.960 --> 00:23:58.080 yesterday. So spam his walls, make sure to bother him. I think he's 22 or something today. 301 00:23:58.080 --> 00:24:06.960 So just make sure to give him some birthday love. All right guys, I'm going to drop the livestream 302 00:24:06.960 --> 00:24:17.920 until next time. See ya. See you guys. Thank you.