[Speaker 1]
Hey guys, welcome to the professional development podcast. Today is Thursday, September 9, and we are in the house, Chino Hills, and we have very special guests Bedros cool. Ian Pedro’s How’s it going?
Going? Well, man, welcome to the HQ. Yeah, yeah, we appreciate you having us. So we typically start off this podcast, giving each of our guests the opportunity to talk a little bit about themselves, where they came from how to or I guess how they became the entrepreneur that they are. Want to put an emphasis specifically on yours just because I honestly don’t think I’ve heard a crazier story than an upbringing from yours to what you’ve grown to. So can you give us a little bit of a background?
[speaker 2]
Yeah, so the best way to say it, like I’m the immigrant edge and the American dream. I’m like the Cinderella man, and my family and I escaped the communist Soviet Union in 1980. I was six years old. I was the youngest one in the family. And my dad was a member of the Communist Party. And, you know, he bribed some officials in the Soviet console. And we escaped him to Italy, under the guise that we’re going on vacation there. And then, of course, we went to the American console, and we’re like, Hey, we hate the Soviet Union, and we want to go to the United States. My dad’s like, I’m a member of the Communist Party. So if you send me back, they’re gonna whack me, right? And Americans being just awesome to us. And they’re like, well, we don’t want you to get whacked. So we’re gonna pump you for information and send you to California. And that’s how we ended up here. Now when we ended up here we didn’t speak English. We didn’t have my dad had a thing at six US dollars is what it ended up being once you converted the money, didn’t speak English didn’t understand the culture. We were broke. We were poor. There are there’s two different you know, broken poor two different things broke is you’re out of money poors like a mindset like we were destitute poverty mindset. And so we were both and eating out of dumpsters that were like, not like a garbage can. I hate when people have like, so he ate garbage can like fucking it’s a dumpster out of behind a grocery store where like, food expires? Yeah, I’m a lot of fucking animals, right? It’s like food expires at a grocery store. They can’t throw it, they can’t sell it. So they throw it away. And then immigrants like me find it and eat it. Like it’s still good. But you have to pick off the fucking mold. And like the eggs are expired, but they’re not bad. And so your mom fries it up and you eat it. But that’s how we made it by we live in section eight housing. Some of the housing that we lived in was so filthy, I got lice as a kid, and we were so broke my mom, my dad had my, my mom had my dad pump, siphon gasoline from a parked car. And she washed my hair with gasoline because it kills lice. And it’s free. And so what’s really neat is like, I got to learn that in the absence of resources, food, money, whatever, you get resourceful. So that was like the very first lesson. And being an entrepreneur, like, I didn’t realize as a kid, I’m learning these lessons. But as I looked back, and the one thing My dad told me over and over again, he’s like, Hey, man, like we rest our lives came to this great country, you’re the youngest one of the family. You know, this country will let you do anything you want. make as much money as you want to become who you want, so long as you also serve the people and like we go to the country, right? And that’s why my dad still to this day, he’s 88 years old, there’s an Anaheim down the road. And he’s like, Listen, whether you’re on stage or on TV, you’re on one of those podcasts for the cause of podcasts, podcasts. He goes, You tell them that we legally enter the United States because when you legally enter a country, you value that country, the processes that it has, and you assimilate, whereas if you legally enter, you kind of milk it. Not everybody, but you kind of milk it and take it for granted. So you know, I realized very quickly that I wasn’t good at school that I had a DD and OCD that every job I had I got fired, so figured out. I’m unemployable. And so the only alternative was the Marine Corps because Mrs. Boyer said, so she was my 11th-grade homeroom teacher. She slammed me against the wall. And she said the Marine Corps is the only ones who can set you straight because you’re a mess. So I graduated high school, and I and I and I went to the Marine Corps recruiting station with Dave, my buddy. He was like, four by a four-man, short, fat dude. And they gave him beat 12 shots. And he lost the weight and they took him. They’re like, Hey, dude, you got flat feet. I’m like, bro, okay, so I’m fine. Like, no, you got flat feet, you can’t go. Right. So there I am in 1994. Like, my hopes and dreams were to go into the Marine Corps. And they’re like, No, you can’t go so I just made my way and said I’m gonna figure out how to be my own boss. And so that kind of led to you know, a decade and a half later becoming an entrepreneur by one of my personal training clients coz I was a personal trainer in a gym, work as a bouncer at a gay bar. The gay bar paid more than the straight bar and that’s why that’s actually how me and Ed met. But
all things aside, it was so neat to work as a personal trainer in a big box gym while I got paid like nine-box an hour. One of my personal training clients man was the student Jim Franco older gentleman on the software company, and he kind of come in with the swagger. And I would see that he’s parking a Cadillac Escalade. And then the next day, he’s parking this Mercedes the next day. It’s like this classic American car. And like, Jim, you have three cars. It’s like, you can have as many as you want, kid, I’m like, Whoa, like that bet my mind like cuz I just got this old pickup truck that’s falling apart. And he’s, like, ever thought about owning your own gym? Like studio. I’m like, I don’t know anything about being an entrepreneur. And he started to mentor me. And that was kind of my, so I knew I was unemployable. I learned these skills of like, you know, adversities and advantages. Every time we dealt with adversity, I just found a way and got resourceful. So I had these factory-installed skills as a kid in me this way of thinking outside of the box, and then I develop this mentor, you know, I helped him with his fitness, he helps me with being an entrepreneur and the rest was history, man, and I just been so lucky. And that’s why I say I’m the Cinderella man, like I’m supposed to be like a taxi driver somewhere in Armenia, right now. And instead, I’m here and I’ve authored a book and I own seven companies. And I’m sitting here with y’all and the greatest podcasts you’ve ever. The greatest podcast on the planet. Clip this cut that
[speaker 3]
So for somebody that has escaped a communist country, and and and did enter legally, yeah, what do you feel about the current events that are happening in America right now?
[Speaker 2]
It’s sad, but it’s normal man, like everyone’s like, Nah, you know, get up in arms via tells me you should, everyone should buy armo for the buy and be prepared, but easy. we’re nowhere near picking up their rifles and your body armor and the revolutions are far from starting because we have to remember that every communist country thus far has collapsed. Historically, every single one Soviet Union, Cuba just recently. And so any socialist-communist country has collapsed. And so China too will collapse. And if the United States goes into socialism, communism, it will be the greatest gift to the current generation who has gotten so soft. is so bubble wrapped, gets so easily offended that they need to feel oppression because life’s been too good for too long. And it is that oppression that will wake up this degenerate soft bubble wrap. training wheels left on too long on their bikes. fucked up culture. Yeah, the comfort crisis, right, we actually need we need a massive crisis. We’re not even there yet. Like, we’re not even there. We need like three bubbles to burst. And we will have that happen to it’ll be in the housing market, financial market. And like industries in terms of like, like big cargo ships and shit that are parked in the ocean that can’t even get into the ports right now.
[Speaker 1]
Yeah, yeah, a lot going on, obviously. And so at this point, I think all of us have read your book. in there, you ask a question, which is what soundtrack is playing in your head. So you talk about your subconscious mind, it’s always recording the environment, and influencing your belief system. At the end of the day, the things that you believe in, you’re going to manifest we’re big believers in that. That’s why we do this podcast, right, like this soundtrack of growth and development. And you’re not if you’re not growing, you’re dying, like that mentality. And even like carried over to this, like, we get to hear your soundtrack. And now this is embedded in our head. And that’s awesome to us since you’re such a high achiever. So that being said, What soundtrack has recently been playing in your head
[Speaker 2]
That I can enact my will on anything they want, so long as I come from a good place. It’s just recently, like, I’m not supposed to have this building because I accidentally bought another building down the road, which now is the compound for the project and my personal gym. But I bought that other building because I was too cheap to buy anything in Chino Hills because I had never bought a giant building, you know, I have rental properties, homes by mechanic about a commercial building. So I bought this building, or that building for like, 1,000,001. And my wife’s like, hey, man is across the street from the Chino state prison Do you really want I’m like, so what, you know, it’s fine. She’s like, but do you really want your franchisees to come there? And that’s the first impression like aka, good point. Good point. So I’m like, Alright, let’s leave that empty. And so, you know, despite this building, and in terms of downpayment at the time, the fit body is growing so quickly, and we were just launching the supplement company, I’d spent that money on that building, and I bought two other rental properties. I just didn’t have any money for a downpayment when this building came up for sale, but I literally was like, I will have this building hell or high water. I talked to the agent, the seller’s agent into doing a face-to-face meeting by lying to him and saying I’m going to buy with cash. So I want a face-to-face meeting with the owner. Right? And when I get the face-to-face meeting, I’m like, Listen, I need you to loan me money for the down payment to buy your building. But here’s what I’m willing to do. And the agent was livid. But I enacted my will and I got that even years before the house that we live in one-acre property out here in Chino Hills, beautiful property. Here’s what I would call the sack, I had no reason to be on that road, I would just discover it. And I would just go up the cul de sac down that driveway, look over the wall and look at the pool and a big guest house in the multi-car garage. And as soon as I’d hear the owners, I leave. And I would tell my wife like, Hey, I found a place like three miles away, like like, these properties are massive. And so I go to take her one day. And this time, I’d stopped by like six or seven times by this point. This one time I take her this was for sale sign in front of it. I enacted my will to the universe and I colluded together to make that happen. And we bought that home. And so so now and I share this with you because same was getting this building and now there’s a piece of property down the road here on the 71. That is like three acres big. It’s an old slaughterhouse a giant barn with two homes on it. And it belongs to the state of California because it’s so old that it’s a historical site. Now they got a monument there. Yep. But I also noticed that it’s gated up because California is broke. Because that’s how Newsome runs shit on the fucker. So all that said, I’m literally enacting my will in the state of California right now. And they will not only take that off the historical list, but they will sell that property to me. And I will text you and let you know that this happened. And everyone’s like, Nah, ain’t gonna happen. You don’t understand how I roll like, I will enact my will and shit because the new the project compound will be that it’s out of the sights on a dead-end road. It’s slaughterhouse-like, what better creepy place to run the project in there? Yeah, it’s gonna be awesome. Yeah. So that’s, that’s the soundtrack that runs through my head is I will enact my will on anything. So long as it’s a positive thing for him. Humanity.
[Speaker 4]
It is awesome. So you mentioned you have seven companies. And you’ve had some experience with partnerships maybe good, maybe bad. Curious, curious, like, what do you? How do you see partnerships working? What would keys lead to a successful partner in your, in your eyes, if there are any,
[Speaker 2]
here’s the deal with a partnership. Here’s the deal with the partnership. First of all, you have to see what kind of person you are like I’m a bull in a china closet. Like I know, I don’t do well with partnerships. So but I know that about myself now. So when I had partners, I would bring on a partner. And he was usually when someone gets a partner, especially they’re a newer entrepreneur, meaning their first 10 years in business, that’s a new entrepreneur because you don’t gain those entrepreneurial battle scars until like, three, four or five years into your business starts to grow. I mean, you haven’t seen adversity until like, you’re the CEO of a fitness franchise and COVID comes, that’s when you start becoming an entrepreneur. But you realize very quickly that the only reason I got these business partners is that I wanted to literally kind of mitigate the risk. So that if things don’t work out, well, it’s going to be split between the five of us, instead of me taking the entire million dollar loss, let’s say right, but now our five is really going to be equally yoked in the way we work the way we operate. Are we all great Oracle’s or, you know, do all of you or do I have a great relationship with my wife? Or do I bring that relationship problem into the workplace and all this stuff, right? And so really, the only time you need a partner is if they bring a unique specialized skill that you cannot get from anywhere else. And that skill or access could be maybe you have a list of a million people that are your ideal customers. It’s like, bro, we will be partners because I’ve got the product, you’ve got the customers, we will be partners. So people go What about money? Like go get a loan, go sell a kidney. But do not like to bring on a partner just because they’ve got money. And they like your idea? Because odds are, you don’t even know who that person is that well. So unless they have a unique specialized skill or access to something, you don’t want to bring a partner on board because everything else you can buy or rent or get through acquiring money and money’s easy to acquire.
[Speaker 5]
Yep. And that’s one of the big things too, that I actually had jotted down because there’s, I mean, quite a few of us here are still early on in our entrepreneurial careers right and a lot of our listeners are early entrepreneurs or want to be in a lot of times the biggest thing that I mean, at least from what I’ve heard is money as being one of the biggest reasons that they can’t start their business. So for our listeners, what’s I mean outside of money, I know you say to get a loan, sell kidney stuff like that. What else can they do to go out and make that business happen? In addition to getting money.
[Speaker 2]
they can actually work like find someone else who’s doing what you’re doing. And model them model success. People are so arrogant. A young copywriter reached out to me recently He’s like, Hey, man, I wrote a copy for the project for you. And I sent it to look at it if you like it, you can pay me it was a horrible copy. And I’m thinking man, you got the project. You’ve got Garrett White’s like warrior week. You’ve got like all these other similar type things, right? And this forgets even bother reading my sales copy or any other similar sales copy to model it. Instead, it was just a slight he was just like pretty much yelling at any guy who was going to read that and saying you’re a loser and a fool if you don’t do the project, and no guy wants to be put in that position, say, dude, your ego, you flexed your ego and so you didn’t go and model success in everything that’s that you want to do that anyone wants to do someone’s already doing it, maybe you can do it better. But figure out who are their vendors? How do they do it? What are their margins, right? Like, what kind of employees do they get, whether it’s software, whether it’s a product, whether it’s a service, unfortunately, people don’t do that. And sometimes you have to just go and work for that person and learn this company that just took equity in fuel hunt, a great apparel company, great movement. The dude that started it, worked for an apparel company, and he saw the inner workings where they sourced the stuff from and all those things. And it’s no surprise that in two years, they scaled it to a seven-figure company. Whereas imagine, like, if everybody else is like, Oh, I got a great idea for a logo and a design. And so of course, they buy a whole bunch of shirts, they overpaid for the shirts, they don’t know what sizes to get, and how many of each and so now they’ve got a garage full of shit like everyone else, and they’re out, you know, depressed about it. But people need to model success successes out there. And if you don’t want to go work for that guy, go hire him as a coach, like, I will gladly take your money to teach you how to start a fitness franchise in half the time. And with half the frustration that it will take you to do it on your own, like, so why not just pay the money to get the coaching or get paid to work in that company for a year to learn the model and say, Hey, thank you so much. I hope I added value to your business as an employee. Now I’m going to go and be a competitor because we live in a free capitalistic environment.
[Speaker 4]
Yeah. And I think you mentioned this is like a key indicator of how your business is doing is referrals. Like are you getting referrals? Yeah, on the work that you’re doing? So if you’re doing the right thing, and you’re putting in the work, you’re probably going to get some referrals. On.
[Speaker 2]
Yeah, if you’re not getting referrals, then odds are your business sucks. I mean, that’s just reality. Everyone wants to look everyone like my baby is the cutest and then you show someone your baby and they like, yeah, you’re like, man, my business was awesome. How many referrals do you get? Why don’t get referrals? That means your clients don’t want to talk about you, like your baby’s ugly. Right? That’s, that’s the facts.
[Speaker 1]
In your book, speaking of, I guess, people that you were coaching, you had consulted someone you talked about Michael, who wanted to write a self-development book. And honestly, like, besides his story, the big thing I got from that, and you didn’t really elaborate on it was you said that the sad part is, most people don’t get past the first chapter of a self-development book. And it just stopped and you as a person that writes self-development books as us as a self-development podcast. Why is it like Why does everybody stop short? And that?
[Speaker 2]
I heard Tony Robbins actually state that fact. And I looked it up and it turned to be true. I think people buy books, whether it’s self-development, or business or whatever new skill, with the best of intentions, like we all want to better ourselves at something. The reality is, are better distractions than the goddamn book, right? However, I found that there are things that are force multipliers that will get you to read that book. If the person who bought the book also follows your podcast and is a big fan of you, they’re more likely to read your book, if they also watch your YouTube videos. And now they not only hear you but see you guys, they’re more likely to read your book. In completion, if they come to an event that you’ve run, they’re more likely to so the more likeability and trust and authority you can establish, they’re more likely they are to finish your book. So not all books that are self-development, know people go to the first chapter, and that’s it. But you have to know the days there’s so much distraction through social media, and people are busy as hell and have to drive their kids to school. And you know, they’re working a job starting a company and doing a side hustle, writing, driving Lyft they don’t have or they don’t make the time. But if they know me, like me, and trust me at a very high level, they will find the time to read my book. And so now as authors, we have the duty and obligation. Like all joking aside, it’s not only selling, write, write the book and sell it, but dangle the carrot for them to read it all the way through.
[Speaker 1]
Yep. Yeah. And speaking of books in, in your book, you said you’d rather start 10 more 100 million dollar companies write another book, which I’d probably be the reason you’re going to write a book. So my question is, what’s your next book going to be about? And can we like have the exclusive breaking like of the title and what the release date and all that?
[Speaker 2]
So there is another book brewing in me, but I’m a disciplined entrepreneur and author. And so I’ve committed to until I sell 80,000 copies of man up, I will not start writing that other book. And I made 66,000 copies right now of man up. And I’m not going to talk about with the book or the title because I would ruin the surprise for the world.
[Speaker 4]
Oh, good. Our 800 followers can pick it up and get you closer to Yeah.
[Speaker 3]
Something that I find interesting is you talk a lot about practicing what you preach, putting in the work that, you know, everybody puts their pants on the same way, you’re not gonna ask somebody to do something that you wouldn’t do. But at some point, as an entrepreneur, you got to start working on growing your business not working in your business. You talk about delegating, yeah, at what point? Do you decide this is what I need to delegate? And this is where it’s gonna go?
[Speaker 2]
That’s a really good question. So in my book, man up, I talked about the 95 five rule, right. And the 95 five rule is this. There’s literally when you think about it as the founder, visionary CEO leader, how whatever you want to see yourself as there’s about 5% of the things you need to do. Now, there’s a shit ton of stuff that needs to happen. So it needs to change the toilet paper, and someone needs to mop and vacuum and do payroll, and pay the quarterly taxes, make sure the shelves are stocked or the software’s working, whatever the thing is. But those are all people, you can pay 20 to $50 an hour to do. So that’s 95% of the stuff should be delegated, the 5% needs to be, you’re the person that’s going to do the money moving stuff. So I’m selling right now, on this podcast, I’m selling the vision of Fit Body Boot Camp of man-up of who I am. So some of your audience goes, Hey, I actually kind of like that guy, and I’m gonna follow him maybe do business with him one day, right. And of course, I want to add value to your audience. So they have this like know, like, and trust factor with me, no one else can sit in this chair. So this is my 5% no one else can sit in this chair and do this podcast I’m selling so delegate, motivate, sell. That is what your 5% is like, you have to figure out what the 95% is to delegate. And then you have to motivate your business partners, your employees, your audience, your tribe, whoever and then you have to sell so that means my email broadcast that I send out the videos that I post and put out the social media content that I create the stage that I take, I’m always selling even if it’s just selling you on an idea to not hit that goddamn snooze button so that you don’t stack losses you start stacking wins first thing of the day, and so no one else can do that. But for me but there’s 5% sadly, everyone’s like I could do that as well, too. Like he didn’t do that well enough. So I’ll do it. Well, how about you train them? a good leader will train him and say here’s how I want it done. Got it? Yes. Okay, now do it this way instead? Be a master delegator. But we also get little control freak action. This is my baby. And I started the company from my kitchen table. And how dare you like easy fella?
[Speaker 1]
Yeah, do that. At 5 am. No snooze. So I just started at Forcella 75. Hard phase one. And I’ve been eight days, but I was reading your book through it. And I was like, Alright, well, I’m going to wake up at 5 am as I’m reading this book, and I’ve always tried and never been successful. But over the last eight days, I’ve done it every single day. 5 am no snooze button, coffee, protein supplements, the whole deal. And then my GSD I get shit done list. And good man, My days are so much more productive. And like a by-product like my I’m getting to sleep earlier. But talk to us because I think through 2007 to 2012. You were super, or you were not a disciplined man. And then that all changed.
[Speaker 2]
Yeah, I was. I was a crop duster. If you were to look at two types of airplanes, I believe humans are developed. We are born as fighter jets. We are made into crop dusters by our families who try and protect those catalysts. Tell us not to do this, don’t take risks. Watch out, be careful, don’t offend someone. So then you just pull back on your risk-taking and your your your sense of adventure, and your boldness, and you become a crop duster. And then hopefully something happens where you feel that burning in your gut. And then there’s like this denying in your soul that says you’re supposed to be a fighter jet. And then you do the things that you need to so I was a poorly disciplined entrepreneur, and I couldn’t figure out why employees kept firing me. By the way, just because you’re the CEO, you guys are all probably CEOs or growing companies, right? Just because you’re the CEO doesn’t mean you do the firing, some of your best employees will fire you by quitting and going elsewhere working for the competition. And you do not want that or becoming the competition and having a chip on their shoulder to fuck your shit up. And so, to me, it’s a no-brainer that I have to lead from the front. And so how, what a hypocrite what an imposter, to go. I want you guys to do this for me yet I sleep in I show up unprepared to meetings, I’m late to things. And then I expect my team to operate at a high level like Forget it, man that won’t. That’s ridiculous, right? And so I learned very quickly that if I want a strong team, not just employees but a team, I have to be a great communicator, be clear on my vision, lead from the front like outwork them on every level in every capacity, and then also take care of them. Like I’ve had workouts or coffees or lunches with almost every single one of my team members and talked about their personal family stuff. And that’s like leadership at the highest level. Because of like, Man, you took time out of your weekend to talk to me for two hours in front of Starbucks, like, You know what? I know they’re being recruited on LinkedIn. I know that Are you guys we’re hitting up as employees, right? Yeah, I know you were brought here. Like, Hey, can we talk to these guys? Yeah. So if you don’t take care of your people like they’re just going to, you know bounce and go elsewhere. So to me it really is about being a disciplined entrepreneur and discipline means making that GST list the night before during that brain dump. Success is so formulaic man, it really is easy. Whatever it is you want to work on. The first thing in the morning is going to move the money needle the things that are your 5% dump it out on a piece of paper the night before on the note section of your phone, you did a brain dump. So now you’re going to sleep peacefully, you put it in the order that you want to work on when the alarm goes off, you don’t hit the snooze button so you stack your first w because that’s when you didn’t hit snooze, you just turn off your alarm jumped up drinker. 30 ounces of water, had your protein shake coffee, vitamins, maybe did a little gratitude, whatever meditation and then you open up your GST list and you attack that fucking list. You put the hardest thing that that you don’t want to do at the top so that you don’t avoid everything else. And then just attack that list. Go workout. And then I get here and everyone should just live like this. Is it like Yeah, but I’m different. No, you’re not you have two arms, two legs. You’re the same as everyone thinks they’re unique snowflakes. I’m a nightmare. Fuck you. You’re not you know what gets so tired. You will sleep at 8 pm, right? Go empty the tank a will go to bed at 8 pm you’ll wake up between four and 5 am. Like that’s it’s simple. It’s just the problem is we are weak. And we choose to stay soft. And we overconsume on food. Alcohol, social media. Gossip. Netflix shows the guy binge-watch the term binge-watch didn’t even exist. Filthy animals fucking binge-watching what will go binge work bitch. Anyways, that helps you.
[Speaker 4]
Speaking of bitches. You talked about inner bitch voice in a quick blog post. And one thing one question I had about that was, you know, do you develop the habit where the inner bitch voice completely goes away? Are you always battling an inner bitch voice?
[Speaker 2]
I used to say sadly, your inner bitch doesn’t go away. But now it’s actually by design. It’s good that your inner bitch doesn’t go away. Could you imagine that? You know, you work out you build muscles and you’re like, Alright, I look like Phil Heath or Michael Hearn. I’m gonna stop now. I’m gonna maintain all this muscle like you just want to appreciate it. Thank God, your body atrophies, so that you have the desire to go keep working out, stay lean, keep eating right, stay disciplined on the stuff that gets you there. And so we need that inner critic. So we all have to if your body is a vehicle, and you’ve got the driver’s seat, most people have that critic their inner bitch voice sitting next to them riding shotgun, telling them how fucked up they are. How they’re not going to get that job how this business isn’t gonna work. The economy is going to crash Biden’s gonna fuck it up. Orange man bad. Blah, blah, blah, but whatever the thing is, right? And then they got the advocate in the trunk. who’s like, Yay, I believe in your fucking awesome that or not, but it sounds like this. He really? He hears him. No, no, your bitch. Because that’s all that’s all. That’s all the critic the same motherfuckers running shotgun. What if you actually like decided to go fucking Berserk went to Home Depot, and you bought some zip ties and duct tape and you zip-tied his fucking arms and legs. And you taped up his mouth and you put him the critic, the inner bitch in the trunk. And you brought the advocate and sat him down, buckle them in tight. And let him just pour into you. But hey, Matt, you’re fucking stud. You know why you’re stuck because you hit the snooze button. And you drink all 30 ounces of water today. And I noticed how you sent out three gratitude text messages to three people that you haven’t reached out to for a very long time, man, you’re a good soul. Could you imagine if that was your fucking inner conversation? Holy fuck, you would run through walls. But instead, we get beat up by all this negative loop that the critic wants to stuff into our head. And then we reinforce it by believing it when not realizing that we can actually get him to switch seats. But you can never kick either one out of the car, you need both. You need both you need the bear you need the dragon. The dragon is your internal insecurities. The bear is the external adversities that you will face in life.
[Speaker 1]
So a lot of people don’t like to address that inner side. And I think you had talked about how your life changed when you addressed inner work. It’s very sexy to talk about growing, making money scaling, even helping people like is a cool topic. When you start to talk about, how you’re really fucked up inside you need to pull that out in order to fix it. You know, and therapy and shit like that people don’t like it. So talk to us about your experience there.
[Speaker 2]
Well, I mean, for me, I wish I can say that you know, hey, I was fucked up and I realized I was fucked up. So I went to a therapist. It wasn’t in that order. I was molested by two older boys when I was a kid. Between the ages of four and six. I was molested by two older boys in Armenia. I told nobody about it. I grew up and I just suppressed that all the way up. In my 30s it led to a lot of violence in my early-late teens’ early 20s, carjackings police helicopter chases, home invasion robberies, well the home invasion robbery is what led to the police helicopter Chase. The old lady was home we didn’t know that. So she calls the cops and police helicopter 79 Toyota pickup doesn’t go that fast. You’re fucked. Do more due diligence. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, we got to scope the joint out better. In my defense, that was TJs job. I was the driver. fuckin TJ fucking TJ anyway. But that’s karmic justice, as well, thank God, all those things happened in terms of the cops pulling us over well, violently and pulling us out of the car because it’s a turning point. It was a significant life event in my life. That I was like, Alright, man, you’ve you got a crossroads here. All three of my friends went to jail. The only reason I did it is that I stayed in the car because I’m the getaway driver. The old lady that they brought couldn’t identify me. So she’s like, I saw him in my house. Camilla house him in my house. The dude’s handsome. But I have no idea who he is. You know, that was me. Right? And so like, skin, my teeth. Right? And so I was like, Alright, this is a turning point for me. Where are we going with this question? So you talked about the inner work? Yeah. Sort of like, and as you grew up, you’re like, Why? Why? Why am I doing all this bad? Like, you know, anyone that does anything bad. Unless they’re drugged up by to the high level where they’re just out of their mind, you know, irradiance tells your gut tells you, this is bad. And then bad things happen to, in fact, I think this was karmic justice, for stealing that money. I mean, you know it, but why do you do it. And so for me, I did it because I wanted to feel like a big tough guy and bring violence to people because I was violated as a young man, as a boy. And it was unfortunate. But I did nothing with it. And I figured if I just continue to get bigger and stronger and grow businesses, all these things did seem so noble. If you read the book, the body keeps the score. Great book by Dr. van diesel. He talks about how boys who are molested or raped if they don’t process through the pain, and the trauma will grow up. Most of them end up using steroids getting big and muscular getting tattoos, starting businesses to create all this money and power. Basically, you’re just creating power and strength because you’re trying to protect the inner boy. How many of those Did you fit? Fucking all of them? Did I check every box right? As I’m reading, I’m like, Oh, shit. But on the outside, it’s a noble thing. Like, Hey, man, look, I’m fit. I’m in great shape. I started all these businesses we give to charities, yes. But deep down inside, just trying to protect that little boy. Right? And so thank God at the age of 38, I had this massive panic attack, which I talked about in the book that I thought was a heart attack. So I was like, man, I dodged a heart attack was a panic attack. So the doctor is like, dude, you’re gonna have to do some biker stress because it will lead to a heart attack otherwise. And that led to talk therapy. Just to work with reducing my stress, my stress and anxiety, right. four sessions into my talk therapy. I built such a great relationship with Kevin downing the therapist that I think he figured out there was something more and he’s like, hey, um, anything else you want to talk about? Like family stuff? Like what happened to as a kid, you know, childhood in Armenia? I was like, nope. Agree. Sure. And I just started like, weeping now. Like, what the hell right? And like, I’m totally I’m like, stop there, dude, what the fuck, man. But he had built such trust and rapport with me in those four sessions. That he’s like, something happened. I was like, I shook my head. Yes. I couldn’t even articulate words. I couldn’t look at him. I just looking outside of his window that might. My Denali was parked down there. I’m just like, fixated on my car. And he’s like, were you raped? I was like, No, shook my head. No, were you molested? Yes. By babysitter? No. Male, yes. And then I finally mustered up towards my two older boys. And 16 months of real therapy started, right. So I went there. I wish I could say I went there because I knew there was some inner work that I needed to do to overcome my limiting beliefs and like the glass ceiling that I was hitting in the self-sabotage and this anger and this rage that I had. I went there because I was stressed and overwhelmed. And I wanted him to help me get over like cope with my stress, and anxiety so I can keep growing the companies and learn to insulate nicely pain. Instead, spend 16 months working with this man and healing, working through the trauma and that big mountain, that big embarrassing thing that happened in my life wasn’t my fault. The shame that I felt was my fault. These two older boys took advantage of a young child. And young kids look up to older boys or older brothers or dads as a rite of passage into manhood and they took advantage of a very sacred relationship. I can talk about it openly now. No one knew not even my wife till age 38. And so you carry this burden, you carry this weight, and then you have this anger and rage and you project to the world because you don’t trust anyone. And so the shame, rage, confusion, all just kind of this mountain kind of became a little speed bump in my timeline of life and I can talk about it from stage and podcasts and that inner work, the healing, literally force multiplied, I swear to you the next three years Fit Body Boot Camp hits the Inc 5003 years in a row. Then in 500, then entrepreneur magazine’s top 200 franchises out of 175,000, franchises, top 200 franchises, like awards left and right, people are looking at me and going like, dude, you look different, you look younger, you look lighter, like this darkness went away, right? Like nothing else had changed. business takes off, the relationship gets better darkness as dark energy goes away. And it was because of the healing. That inner work is the greatest work you could ever do. Not the work of charity, not the work of building businesses, monuments to yourself and all those things, those are all those could be multiplied by a factor of 100x. If you can become whole, most men especially choose to distract themselves with projects, work, businesses, things to avoid and ignore the work that we need to do the inner work.
[Speaker 1]
Yeah, so you would suggest for anybody who gets it because most people you know, some people might be listening to this would be like, I mean, the shit he’s been through, like, you know, I can’t even hold a candle to that. So it’s like, do I actually need to go to therapy? Do I actually need to do the inner work?
[Speaker 2]
Well, the thing that I was here is like, Hey, babe, I’m sorry that happened to you. But I’ve dealt with my stuff. Like you think you did? You think but you walk around with literally like these sores all over your body that haven’t healed. On your heart like you can only love so deep. You can only have a friendship so strong. You tend to create this pattern of rejection throughout your life and like Oh shit, I’m self-sabotage. I got my God. addiction. So it’s not addiction. Yeah, addiction is a byproduct of trauma. No one’s born with the alcohol gene. Addiction is a byproduct of trauma, addiction to porn addiction to gambling, addiction to alcohol addiction to infidelity, whatever is It is literally a byproduct of trauma. And so I thought I had dealt with, in fact, I told Kevin, as I was sobbing I’m like, but I’m fine. I’ve dealt with what happened to that little boy. And he goes, excuse me. I’m Kevin, I’m fine. I’ve dealt with what happened with that little boy. He goes, can I tell you some scary? Sure. He goes, can you say I’ve dealt with what happened to me as a little boy, and I started crying again. He goes that’s called this association. And the first step into creating multiple personalities is disassociating yourself from the trauma that took place. So when most men go, Nah, man, I’ve dealt with it. I’m good. I’m fine. Yeah, look at me. Great shape. Lots of followers. I got a blue checkmark. I got a blue checkmark. And all these different companies are talking about I’m fine. Now, bro, you’re fucked. You’re fucked. It’s time to unfuck yourself. It’s the hardest work you’ll do. But it is the most fulfilling work you do. Because it 100 X’s everything, including your blue checkmark. Yep, the best work you can do is nothing ever. By the way, the blue checkmark is a stupid shift for
[Speaker 3]
Something that I think was also a turning point in your career as an entrepreneur was, you said that you kind of lost your vision or your purpose. And you sent out a company-wide email on a Monday morning. And only one employee responded back to you. And for me, like I’m in a growing business and I’m looking for employees. And something you said was that she had the traits of an intrapreneur, which is a phrase that’s not heard very often. So what would you tell for people who are trying to grow looking for those employees? What are those traits?
[Speaker 2]
Oh, man, well, I’m gonna tell you right now because her husband is in this room. That’s ed, my head videographer media guy here is married to Joan, my awesome and amazing assistant have gone on nine years now. And she came into my life. You know, she applied for a position and I was like, Oh my god, she’s a unicorn. She’s gonna literally you want to talk about that inner voice. Then her voice was like, as soon as she finds out I’m a phony, that everyone just quits here. Or I fire them out of rage and anger. She’s going to quit, right? Sounds like okay, dude, here’s your chance to like get your shit together. Okay, right a Monday morning email. Like, Hey, guys, from now on. I promise to be this way. And I expect this of you guys. And this time. I mean it because I’m going to lead from the front. Right? And I was thinking like, all nine employees would be like, Yeah, she was john was only one to hit reply. It was like, Yay, let’s do it. How can I help? And I was like, Fuck, I have no idea. How do you actually develop like leadership muscles? I have no clue. Right? But I’m like, okay, she’s on board. The rest aren’t understandably so because I was a bad horrible leader. Look, here’s the real man. Anyone can become a credit to the Marine Corps. They say they can turn anyone into a rifleman or rifle woman I suppose. They don’t like reject unless you’ve got like flat feet, I suppose. But even these days from what I understand, Rob O’Neill told me they take dudes because they have orthotics and all that shit for choose, but they can turn anyone into a competent marine. Right? And I always have to remind HR upstairs, like, Oh, we have to part ways with sewing. So hey, I got I do tell me why. Well, you know this is happening. Great. But were they good at one point? Yes. But now they’re not? No, because our business is faster, more sophisticated. They can’t keep up. Gotcha. If we killed everybody on this planet, there was no other employees to hire. Could you make this person work? Like, yeah, yeah, if there was no one else, like, pretend that’s what happened as a zombie apocalypse happened. And that’s the only person we have left and make it work. There’s like five people upstairs right now who should have been fired years ago who today are sitting in leadership positions, you know, and that has, in fact, it you know, I said at five o’clock, I had a hard stop. And the reason for that was, I have this thing that I run twice a year called Flint and future leaders in training. So team members who I believe have potential, sit with me on their own time read specific books that I signed them and I mentor them one hour a week for six weeks. And their future can be future leaders, like some of those future leaders or people that were on the chopping block. But when we went with the mindset of they’re the only ones out there who’s to say that the next person that I fire and new person I bring on board is going to be a Joan. Right? I got lucky with Joan B. unicorn walked into the building. I was like, how do I keep her right? Everyone else you have to develop? I had to develop myself. You guys have to develop. So we’re so quick to fire and so slow to mentor and coach and develop and I think if you want to turn employees into high-performing team members, develop them pour into them. If they still don’t work out, give them the gift of goodbye. Yeah. You’ve dabbled in it was it was jujitsu for Yeah, yeah. Do the stupid six-week challenges. The things that scammer that out of my comfort zone I’ll do for six weeks straight three times a week, two hours at a time. Surfing marathon run train for six weeks run marathon jujitsu, the new competition, all these things? It’s rock climbing, so I was afraid of heights. And then they and some I like some I don’t but they all are great learning experiences.
[Speaker 3]
How many weeks did you have to train to choke that guy out on that plane?
[Speaker 2]
true story. Yeah, we were flying back from Maui. I mean, the family and I go on a lot of business flights, men, most of the time, everything’s fine. But we sit on the aisle just about the safe side. All right, so I can be the first to get up in case I need to. And I just got done training with Aaron Weatherspoon, who at the time he was the King of the Cage, Welterweight Champion and then we go to Hawaii. And you know, like I don’t know if you guys like ever like have sparred, but he always wanted like as Aaron just kind of letting me get a few punches. And is he just letting me choke him or get him into the armbar? Like that fake like, Oh, you got me, right? After all, I’m paying the dude. Right? Because like, is this stuff really work? But what will I be able to pull it off? Right? So we’re flying back over the Pacific. And this dude is way up. So we’re sitting in the back of first-class and he’s way up in the first class was like a 747, where there have multiple first-class rows. And he’s like, gun desert and the gun thing threaten to blow the plane up and the flight attendants are freaking out. They have the zip cuffs, and they’re walking through my aisle, they’re gonna cut through the galley to create a wedge gap between him and the cockpit. And they’re like, you know, so I stopped late. I’m like, What the fuck is going on? My wife’s looking at me like, Dude, what the hell, right? Andrew at the time, was like six years old. He’s like, Daddy thing, okay? I’m like, son, everything’s gonna be fine. And like, like, my butthole is like, clenched, right? Because I was like, I have no idea what’s going on. And so I look at the dude behind my wife, and he just kind of looks at me and gives me the nod, like, Alright, if shit goes down. He and I are doing this and I’m thinking, this is post 911. Like, you hear on the news? like everyone’s got a dogpile on him. They’re gonna seatbelt him together, and then it’s on the news. Right? So she goes, what he’s, he’s a flight risk. We have to ask them to put this on. And I look at him and he’s just like foaming at the mouth going berserk. No one’s sitting around, and they’ve all pressed themselves into the walls. And so I was like, that match goes, Yeah, so anyway, so they cut through, they go, Hey, we put this on. I’m just watching and he just goes like, goes from 10 to 11. And she looks up she’s like help and so man, this dude gets up and starts running. And I’m like, Hey, buddy, you got to put that on it before I can say he goes, uh, shoved me and I literally parried and got behind him got him in a rear-naked chokehold. And it started working. Like he’s, like, soften up and collapse and all dude, he’s bucking with the more I tightened down, and I was like, okay, Aaron said, Take a deep breath. And so I took a deep breath. Now he was filled up my chest with air. Shed, he’s even choking, losing air faster. And so I’m like whispering in his ear like, buddy, I don’t know what’s going on with you. But you gotta fucking be cool. Like, no one’s gonna die today. And every time I loosen up because the other part of it is I don’t kill the dude. Because I don’t want to kill anyone. And I loosen up he gets a little air he starts going bonkers again. So like, Fuck this shit. Sorry. He’s gonna go to sleep. I’m gonna sleep to sleep. And I know it was zip cop him and man, homeboy there took turns sitting security with him in the back of the plane. My first class seat went empty. But we landed in LA x and the cops took him away. But man, it was Gary’s so scary. And I remember just the next day calling Aaron Weatherspoon and saying that Saptami works. I’m just blown away. Like, thank you so much. And you just never know when you’re going to use a skill like that.
[Speaker 3]
Well, it’s good to know that you can do it after all that training. And, and, you know, well, I’ll be honest, one of the reasons I want to bring that up is we were sitting about 800 Instagram followers right now. No big deal, right? But we’re almost to that. 1000 mark. So what we were going to ask is we’re basically chasing cloud here. Should you choke out Brad on camera?
[Speaker 2]
I will not ask it’s way too much to lose. That is great at jujitsu. Brad getting choked up, Brad. You’re standing like in the back. I’ve got too much. You’re gonna attack me and I would still try to talk you out of attacking. I don’t want to fight anyway. Yeah, that’s I love that though. We just choke them out for fun, please. But one of the guys is a great man, you guys appreciate the best podcast ever remember that? It was said.
[Speaker 3]
But one of the things I wanted to circle back to as we wanted to talk about was mentorship. Right? It’s a super hot button right now. And you have it was Franco was a mentor to Franco Franco. And then I think who was the other one
[Speaker 2]
Joel Weldon as my speaking coach, Dan Kennedy copywriting coach Joe Polish marketing. Like I’ve had mentors. I’ve paid so much money to mentors and is literally the best investment I’ve made in terms of business. And then when you look at, you know, mentors mentoring this, the headspace, you know, 16 months working with Kevin, Kevin downing my therapist, like if that’s not mentoring, like who wears the owner’s manual for your brain for how your heart works, right? If there isn’t one and then you sit across a psychologist and he’s like, there’s nothing wrong with you. Like, really, I’m I feel like there’s this monster in me. And he’s like, No man, you’ve been sexually abused. And so you’re just really jumpy, and like, Oh shit. He’s like, but believe it or not, there are hundreds of dudes who have sat on the couch, and they’re all fine. I’m like, No kidding. Right? Like, I didn’t know that I thought I was broken and fucked up. And so I’m just going to get big and strong and build companies and then die. Yeah, but as it turns out, I can do so much more after healing. I’ve done so much more. But mentorship on every level business mindset, marriage. Psychology, man, it’s necessary.
[Speaker 1]
Yep. So I want to just real quick as questions, we’re gonna have two more after this. And we’re running short on time. But with that mentorship, a lot like Dan as a mentor, it came up organically, like yours came up organically as well. How would you suggest somebody go find a mentor? Is it just like, find them on LinkedIn? Ask them if they’ll mentor you do you offer them money? If they don’t have like a practice like that? How does that work?
[Speaker 2]
There are two types of mentors, right? The dudes that are like for hire, like, I have a mentorship program. And if someone wants to learn how to start a franchise or level up in their leadership, like whatever my zone of genius is, or that I’ve been good at, and made lots of money out or been successful at like, I can mentor you in that. Right. But then the problem with that is, you see a lot of people who you can by social media following you come by the blue checkmark, you can toggle that little thing that says public figure or entrepreneur or mentor as your title, and then you could sell air. And you know, these are people that maybe want to run one good marketing funnel, but they know nothing about a business like they would not know what to do when the next Coronavirus lockdown happens. And so people get swindled. So I think the best place to start is if you’re going to buy a mentor, meaning you’re going to pay someone to mentor, you just do a little research, like can I talk to three or four-year clients that are maybe in the space that I’m in, just so I can see what kind of results they’ve gotten like on my site. There are like 22 videos from male-female clients, pro athletes, navy seals, doctors to say like Beatrice has helped me 10x 50x 100x my money. But if a dude and CBD signed up for coaching with me, and I was like, Bro, I don’t know how to do CBD local businesses. So here’s your 100,000 back. Have a good life, like a good mentor has the obligation to say that, yep. I was fortunate enough, early on, where Jim Franco was someone who cared for me looked at me probably as a son type of thing when I was in my 20s. And he’s in the 60s. And he mentored me. So the other way is, if you know what industry you want to ultimately end up in, go work for someone that you respect, and who’s in the industry that you want to be in. Right? Six team members have worked here and gone on to do their own thing. And all six have five of the six came in with Hey, I want to work with you to get paid to get mentored by you, but I will make you money while I’m working for you a cool man. The recent one was Richard Mujica. Now he owns one called closers are doing 10 million a year. He left her two years ago, he was selling franchises. For me, I was like, hey, sign a four-year contract with me. Because I’m going to teach you skills that I don’t want to do you just learn and leave. I want at least to get four years out of you know, different than the military, I suppose. Right? And then I’m going to teach you everything. And then fair wins. Interestingly enough, he brought me on board. He’s a coaching client now. Right? So he’s like, Hey, now I want to use your mentorship. And so you can go work for someone that you respect, and who’s in an industry that you like to actually get paid to get mentored? Or you can find someone on LinkedIn and just go Hey, look, you know, I like what you’re doing. I see you’re successful. I want to go down that path. Is there anything I could add value to your life and exchange mentorship? And then the third way was obviously paying for it but make sure you’re getting someone who walks the walk and talks the talk. Yeah, basic.
[Speaker 1]
Yeah. Cool. Appreciate that. That’s a really good insight into mentorship. So then two other things Brad’s gonna have a question for you, which is our only fans inquiry, but we do a little bit of a piece here. It’s called guys being guys right bros being bros kind of deal. Like we pride ourselves on being a little bit different than most podcasts in terms of our prep work in terms of how we build relationships with our guests. So we typically ask our guests to do something outside with us to just build upon that relationship. So and you were talking about that you’ve actually done this before. So our question is, would you do a cycle of steroids with us to where we can all get super jacked now before you answer Dan said he would. you can use this before and after for a fit body?
[Speaker 2]
Perfect Yeah. Really good before I’m experimental, I’m in like, if that’s a legit question I met Yeah, fuck Yes. I actually don’t know how to get in and out of Tijuana. Like with the right assessment on the session on like, gets you jacked, bro. assassin en man. So you go to Tijuana. You go into the veterinary you go into the vet, like right? Because you go into a regular pharmacy They’re still gonna want to scrap but you’re going to have no replacing like Hey, I got a racehorse and I need my racehorse to be mucho big and strong. And they go sesan on you Well, yes, test it on 250 and you buy 12 of those. And there’s your nice eight-week cycle. And Syston on is a combination of four different testosterones fast-acting long-acting short-acting, whatever acting very far. Fuck you. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Lean jacked and angry. shredded. I really good. Yeah, let’s go. Yes. So what I would do is I would actually cross like I would do the spare tire in your car. Yeah, right along the rim there you slice it. And then so I would go and I’d buy a shit ton I poured into the spare tire if I make it back. We’re fucking doing this. And then you come back you use what you’re going to use and you sell the rest. Okay? So obviously we’re not selling shit. Because we’re that’s not who we are anymore. We’re just gonna buy shit for personal use. Okay, all you got to do is this your first cycle? Yeah, you have gotta use Mexicans assessment on because the cool thing is you get bitten every fever and get these abscesses back you get the whole experience. Yeah. Can’t you sweat? It’s awful.
[Speaker 4]
How awesome is our SEO going to be with Mexican sesan on. We’re gonna blow a lot of photos. Yeah, and we go to pop up some beer while we’re there. Yeah, I can I know my way around. Let’s do it.
[Speaker 1 ]
So every episode we have with our guests we have what we call the only fans inquiry because we don’t have a lot of fans we call them only fans. So the question that we had we had only fans now we have a great story we can tell you about after the episode guy but um so what is the one question that people never ask you that they think is the key you should be constantly asking yourself to build an empire?
[Speaker 2]
What next? Like always ask yourself what like what is your next move like people rest on their laurels man All right, I’m making half a million dollars a year I’m set cool. And then again, the administration changed. lumber has gotten more expensive than steel gasoline prices are through the roof inflation is blowing up chicken breast has doubled in price. You’re a $500,000 a year is like $50,000 a year now like what’s next to make more money to have more impact to become the next version of yourself? No one’s asking what next because they think it’s like the journey has a finish line there is no finish line What next? keep climbing the mountain going back to the thing you said before the cameras started rolling because either growing or you’re dying. Right, so what next leads you gets the subconscious mind to start processing what else am I good at? How else can I scale this? Who else can I bring on board to help me? People don’t ask what is next enough.
