Brad Weimert, CEO of Easy Pay Direct, Reveals How High-Risk Entrepreneurs Can Prevent Stripe and Other Processors From Freezing Funds

Summary

Problems to Profit Podcast: Brad Weimert, CEO of Easy Pay Direct Reveals How High-Risk Entrepreneurs Can Prevent Stripe and Other Processors From Freezing Funds

Release Date: July 31, 2025

In this enlightening episode of the Problems to Profit podcast, host Preston Brown sits down with Brad Weimert, the CEO of Easy Pay Direct, a cutting-edge credit card processing company. Brad shares his extensive entrepreneurial journey, the challenges he faced with traditional payment processors like Stripe, and the innovative solutions his company offers to high-risk businesses. This episode is a treasure trove of insights for entrepreneurs seeking to navigate the complexities of payment processing and build resilient, profitable businesses.

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1. Introduction to Brad Weimert and His Ventures

Preston Brown begins by introducing Brad Weimert, highlighting his multifaceted career as a serial entrepreneur and investor. Brad discusses his involvement in various sectors, including real estate and his primary venture, Easy Pay Direct.

Notable Quote:

"The beautiful thing about business to me is that you get these cycles of learning so much faster than you do in the rest of life." — Brad Weimert [10:37]

2. The Challenge with Traditional Payment Processors

Brad recounts a critical moment during the COVID-19 pandemic when Stripe froze hundreds of thousands of dollars of his funds. This incident not only jeopardized his travel agency but also exposed the vulnerabilities businesses face with traditional payment processors.

Notable Quote:

"Stripe is a great company, but it is not intended for many, many, many different verticals and people just aren't aware." — Brad Weimert [06:50]

He explains how chargebacks and disputes can quickly drain a business's finances, especially when processors like Stripe assess risks after account approval, often leaving businesses in a precarious position.

3. Easy Pay Direct: A Solution for High-Risk Businesses

In response to the limitations of conventional payment processors, Brad founded Easy Pay Direct. He emphasizes the company's specialized underwriting process, which assesses businesses upfront to prevent issues like frozen funds.

Notable Quote:

"Credit cards are great for consumers because if you have a problem, you can dispute the charge... The downside is when a charge is disputed, the first thing that happens is the money gets ripped out of your bank account." — Brad Weimert [06:50]

Brad details how Easy Pay Direct's approach differs from Stripe's, focusing on understanding the client's business model and mitigating risks before they escalate.

4. Brad's Entrepreneurial Journey: From Cutco to Payments

Brad shares his early life, growing up in an upper-middle-class family with doctor parents, and his rebellious streak that led to multiple arrests in high school. His transformation began at 18 when he discovered sales through Cutco, which taught him the fundamentals of sales, self-awareness, and accountability.

Notable Quote:

"Had I not had that manager, had I not had the system, had I not had their conviction to tell me, hey, this will work, I wouldn't have done it." — Brad Weimert [15:59]

Despite initial success with Cutco, Brad sought more sustainable and scalable business models, leading him to network marketing and eventually founding Easy Pay Direct.

5. The Importance of B2B Relationships

Preston and Brad delve into the critical role of B2B (Business-to-Business) models in building robust professional networks. Brad explains how transitioning from B2C (Business-to-Consumer) to B2B allowed him to cultivate valuable relationships with other entrepreneurs, providing a safety net and collaborative opportunities essential for business resilience and growth.

Notable Quote:

"Building a business that's in B2B is, as long as you come up and you build the business, you make revenue, you figure out entrepreneurship, you are by default building a network of other entrepreneurs around you that can support you." — Brad Weimert [22:05]

This strategic move not only fortified his business against market fluctuations but also expanded his professional network exponentially.

6. Turning Problems into Educational Opportunities

Brad emphasizes the importance of quickly transitioning from problem perception to problem-solving. Influenced by personal development resources like Tony Robbins' programs, Brad adopted a mindset of ownership and continuous improvement, viewing challenges as catalysts for growth.

Notable Quote:

"The more you can compress those things, the easier you can move through the challenges of life." — Brad Weimert [33:05]

This philosophy enabled him to navigate financial setbacks effectively and fueled his personal and professional development.

7. Balancing Control and Empowerment in Business

A significant portion of the conversation revolves around the paradox of control in entrepreneurship. Brad admits that balancing his desire for influence with empowering his team to take ownership is an ongoing challenge. He references Jeff Bezos' framework of "one-way and two-way doors" to empower employees to make decisions within set financial limits without needing constant oversight.

Notable Quote:

"There is a chance that every day of the week, one of those 30 people and/or one of the thousands of customers that they serve is epically something up for you." — Brad Weimert [46:31]

This approach fosters a culture of trust and accountability, essential for scaling businesses sustainably.

8. Identity and Core Values

Brad opens up about his core values, which include growth, integrity, and the importance of relationships. He underscores the significance of being true to one's word and maintaining strong, authentic connections in both personal and professional spheres.

Notable Quote:

"If you say you're going to do something, do it. And if you don't want to do it, don't say you're going to do it." — Brad Weimert [54:10]

These values not only define Brad's personal identity but also shape the ethos of Easy Pay Direct.

9. Resources and Final Thoughts

Towards the end of the episode, Brad shares resources for listeners to learn more about his ventures, emphasizing the value of continuous learning and relationship-building in entrepreneurship. He invites listeners to engage with his Beyond a Million podcast and his social media platforms for ongoing insights.

Notable Quote:

"Easy Pay Direct is probably the largest payment provider for coaches, consultants, creators." — Brad Weimert [55:25]

Preston wraps up the episode by encouraging listeners to apply the valuable lessons shared, reinforcing the podcast's mission to help entrepreneurs transform their problems into profits.

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This detailed summary encapsulates the essence of Brad Weimert's discussion on the Problems to Profit podcast, offering a comprehensive overview of his entrepreneurial insights, solutions for payment processing challenges, and the foundational values that drive his success. Whether you're grappling with payment processor issues or seeking inspiration for building a resilient business, this episode provides actionable guidance and motivation.

Transcript

[Preston Brown]

Are you tired of complicated business advice that rarely delivers any real results? I'm Preston Brown and I've built a nine figure portfolio by following simple business formulas that anyone can use. In my new book, you, First Million made Easy, I reveal the exact system that I've used to generate hundreds of millions in revenue. And it's frankly a system that works in any industry, with any business, and yes, in any market. The good news, it's not about hustle, it's about. It's not about running or working or struggling and what it is about creating money instead of just earning it. Because earning money is slavery while creating is freedom. It's about stopping the cycle of managing by crisis and building a business that doesn't depend on you. Transforming your business from a high paying job to an asset that generates money even when you're not there. Whether you're a startup or an established company, this formula will transform your business into a profit driven machine that gives you the time and freedom to focus on what truly matters. Grab your first million Made Easy now and let's start the journey of financial freedom together. I look forward to being a part of your story. Welcome back to Problems to Profit. Guys, I have a very special treat today. I have been networked with this amazing man. We actually just did a podcast. I got to sit on his show, he got to interview me, pulled a lot out of me in a very short amount of time. And like, that's not easy to do because I'm really long winded and so I'll go and go and go. And it takes a radically intelligent person to do that. And every question, every answer, everything is calculated. As we talked earlier, he started telling me a little bit about his business and he's in an amazing niche. Before I meet him, I have multiple people that I respect very highly. They're like, oh my God, you're gonna love Brad, he's such a badass. You guys are going to be brewing out like, and you're one of those guests where there's like tons of directions we can go tons of things like that our audience can learn from you. Also, you're cool as like, you're buffed, you're ripped, you have a great business. You have a mohawk.

[Brad Wymer]

I do have a mohawk.

[Preston Brown]

I mean like, like there's all these directions. So you're like the most versatile guest, which is the most fun but also the hardest guest to work with. So I'm not necessarily going to program this podcast, but the only thing I want to start is want to hear A little bit about, like, what you're doing today, because there's a crazy amount of stuff, and I don't even want to slaughter it and screw it up, like, telling it. But, I mean, I know you're business partners and some things with another friend of mine, like, who does huge different things. I mean, you own this studio we're sitting in, and you're in a crazy niche business that, like, I got killed because I didn't know about you several years ago. I wish I'd known about you. Like, guys, welcome to the show. Brad Wymer. Dude, thank you so much for coming on, man.

[Brad Wymer]

Thanks for carving out time, man. Glad we can make it happen. It was kind of, I guess it wasn't last minute. We had to cram it in. Unfortunately, you have a plane, so it was easier for you to get here.

[Preston Brown]

It was funny. I blamed Justin yesterday, you know, on, on the show in case my wife watches it. I was like, justin, it's, it's your fault. So now it's gonna be your and Justin's fault that I'm going to buy a bigger plane because all the camera equipment made it quite a squeeze on the flight.

[Brad Wymer]

I feel great about that.

[Preston Brown]

Yeah, I, I, I appreciate you taking the blame so that I can have my goals.

[Brad Wymer]

Absolutely. Absolutely. I just need, I need a lift sometime.

[Preston Brown]

We're, We're. When? Say when, dude. Like, well, it's best if we go from, like, here to Cancun or here to Cabo or something like that. And then you got to do a lift somewhere.

[Brad Wymer]

Cool.

[Preston Brown]

And then a lift back.

[Brad Wymer]

Yeah. What are we, what are we doing after this?

[Preston Brown]

Let's discuss it. So. So, Brad, can we jump in? And I'd like to hear. Just. Everybody loves to judge a story by the ending. I'd love to get, like, you know, just, Just give us a little brag, give us a little where you're at, some of the crazy awesome shit you're doing.

[Brad Wymer]

Oh, boy. Well, I'll tell you how I spend my time. So the Beyond a Million podcast is what we just had you on for. I spend a lot of time doing that these days. I spend a bunch of time doing real estate. I own a few commercial buildings, some land, some residential stuff. I'm very active in that space all the time. Mostly because, I mean, there are a lot of reasons. Right. There are these huge tax benefits to it, but it's also a really interesting creative pursuit of a tangible good. And I love being able to design tangible things. It's just real. There's Something very satisfying about hard assets that can't go anywhere. And then the other chapter of my life is Easy Pay Direct. And so Easy Pay Direct is a credit card processing company. We have about 30 people on the team, full time development team in house. We work largely with people that want to accept credit cards or ACH payments when the card isn't present is how we say it, meaning that you're not face to face swiping a card at a store or something. So almost everybody we work with are E commerce coaches, consultants, etc. Supplement companies and a whole bunch of other verticals.

[Preston Brown]

I have a fairly large group of coaches and consultants that watch my show. And so this is going to be very critical for them to maybe hear a little bit about that specific thing. And I'm going to share a real quick story before we go deeper because you're in a critical space and I'm maybe a little bit like lovingly mad at you for not knowing me. Years ago, we opened a travel agency. Not intending to open a travel agency. I was traveling with another during COVID and they just stopped traveling. And so I opened one of my own because I wanted to travel and did all that. And then it turned out to get real big, real fast. We had over 100 members paying a membership fee and we were booking destination trips all over the world, like Maldives, Greece, all this. And so you probably know how this is when you're booking hotels and you're bringing out 150 people. Sometimes you have to front all the money and then you send the bill to everybody. And we would charge half up front and then half, you know, a week before the trip or whatever. Right. And I went with one of your competitors. And I mean, I don't want to talk bad about them, maybe it's just not in their business model. But we went with Stripe and they're a big brand out there and they're kind of the one that everybody finds. And during COVID travel was like a dirty word. Like there was shit, there was. There was travel. Right. Like, and so no, I was not a popular guy apparently to stripe. And they froze hundreds of thousands of dollars when I desperately needed it. We collected all this money that should have gone into paying for that. And then like, I just had to come up with it all on my own or, you know, dishonor all of my clients who were paying me to do something while all my other businesses, which were real estate, were scaling at that time. Like, and scaling is expensive. Like, can we dive a little bit.

[Brad Wymer]

Into the yeah, 100%. I mean, I can tell you, I can give you the basics of why that happened, how to avoid it, and what to expect from it. So first and foremost, that that is Stripe will do that 100% of the time. Stripe is a great company, but it is not intended for many, many, many different verticals and people just aren't aware. So kind of the two minute version of this is that credit cards are great for consumers because if you have a problem, you can dispute the charge. The downside to that for a business owner is, is that when a charge is disputed, the first thing that happens is the money gets ripped out of your bank account and you have to fight to get it back if the business isn't there anymore. So if you close your doors for whatever reason, the credit card processing company has to pay the consumer back. So the more likely it is that your business goes under, combined with the likelihood of a consumer filing a dispute, combined with how big you are, creates risk. For the credit card processor. There are two ways to handle that risk. One is you auto approve the account, which is what Stripe does. But that means they don't know who you are, what you do, what you sell, how you sell it, how you deliver it, if you deliver it. And then when they find out what you do, they assess risk after the fact. And the only recourse they have at that point is to hold money or close the account. Right. The other approach is to underwrite the account. So on the front end, get to know who you are, what you do, what you sell, etc. The better we get to know you, then we can make a decision on the front end of whether we want to approve the account or not. Right. So you might get declined on the front end, but at least you won't be in a situation as a business owner where you're going to have your money held, likely. So with travel in particular, as you pointed out, you're putting a bunch of money down and the event isn't happening until the future. And unfortunately, you also have this thing that they deem acts of God, meaning you might book a trip and it might be a hurricane.

[Preston Brown]

Right, we had that.

[Brad Wymer]

There you go. And so in that case, if your business is a liquid and consumers want their money back, well, then whoever the processor is has to pay it all and they take a huge loss on that. So different ways to assess risk. So there are all these verticals. Travel is definitely one of them. But then you've got coaching. Consulting creators are another one. Because the information that People buy from coaches, consultants, creators is subjective in quality, so it's hard to underwrite if somebody is going to want their money back or not. And as you probably know, there are a metric fuck ton of coaches, consultants, creators that are not that credible, that sell expensive shit. Right. So it creates huge losses for credit card processing companies. So we are very good in verticals that are more challenging, that take more understanding and nuance, and we're very good at underwriting, and we have a bunch of software that allows us to do that better.

[Preston Brown]

Oh, that's brilliant. And I want to go through your story, but I'm going to post a note, like in the show notes, a link to your company so that people can go research it if they need it. Because I just know, like, we'll probably hit 100 points where we're going to say that in this podcast, because there's so much content that's going to come here, but people will need that.

[Brad Wymer]

Yeah, well, the thing is, people should do it before they need it. So we get literally three to five calls a day from people that are having held funds from Stripe alone. Just Stripe. So we get a few hundred applications a month and three to five a day just from Stripe issues. And again, it's not that Stripes pay.

[Preston Brown]

Them a marketing fee.

[Brad Wymer]

Right. It's not that Stripe's a bad company. That's. It's just they're not tooled and they don't want to be to handle this specific vertical. But they end up with a whole bunch of people signing up because they've got a lot of press and developers really like building with them. So it's important. We're. I bring that up because we're very good at handling it when it's a big issue, when you're in crisis, but it's a lot easier to handle it if you don't wait until they hold money or close the account.

[Preston Brown]

That sounds like a lot of things in business. Yeah. All right. So anyway, I totally, like, I was like, hey, tell me your story. And then you said something good. And I was like, wait, stop. Let's stay here for a minute. So. So please continue, man. Like, so you're doing a bunch of epic things. You've got, obviously, I mean, three a day, just from Stripe. It's pretty big company.

[Brad Wymer]

Yeah, yeah, we're. We're having fun. I mean, right now, what's interesting about payments in general is, I think on the surface, when you start a sentence that way, a lot of people just shut off and they're like, Nothing, nothing is interesting about payments. It's, it's just sort of a dry finance world. But payments intersects with every other business on the planet. Right. You can't operate if you can't accept payments in basically every business model on the planet. So there are all these different areas of payments and they're all changing radically right now. So fintech became a category in the last 10 years because technology companies recognized the money involved in the financial markets and started to integrate that stuff and figure out how can we transform the financial space to make more money. So you know, our development team is focused on sort of future facing stuff all the time, which is better experience, better interface, integrating crypto, what the rails of crypto look like for the future. Is that a payment mechanism that's actually going to be commerce or, or is it just stored value? How does all of that work?

[Preston Brown]

Oh my gosh. I literally just had ideas that we're going to talk about offline for my own business. Even better on payments that I think we might be able to work on. So, so I love the story from kind of the ending. So you've built this giant payment processing company and three a day is not small like that. Three a day just with the problem. So that's not, that's not the leads a day.

[Brad Wymer]

Right.

[Preston Brown]

That's just the leads that have a very high level of need that are probably in many cases easy conversions.

[Brad Wymer]

Yeah. And those are leads, those are applications. So those are the people that actually are signing up with us because they've had an issue.

[Preston Brown]

And all of these are reoccurring revenue type accounts. So it's not like you get a customer and it's a one time pay. This is a customer that is going to continue. This is a nurtured relationship. This is a long time thing. Like it's like owning a string of ATM machines. It sounds like.

[Brad Wymer]

Yeah, very much. And actually a lot of people that own payment companies also have an ATM branch and some people just do ATMs but it's not uncommon to find payment processors that have like an ATM branch as well.

[Preston Brown]

Oh, how cool. Oh how cool. Okay, so, so we know you're a badass, we know you're a baller, we know you're. Well, I mean the mohawk told me badass. When, when we first started I was like bromance right here dude. Like that's the cooler. My kid, my son, every time we get a haircut he's like dad, I want a mohawk. And, and, and I, and I get it for him every Time. He's like, beautiful, coolest kid in school. And one day I, you know, I haven't had the courage to get it with him.

[Brad Wymer]

Mm.

[Preston Brown]

But you're giving me a little inspiration.

[Brad Wymer]

Do it.

[Preston Brown]

I might go and the next time.

[Brad Wymer]

Send me a picture.

[Preston Brown]

Yeah, I'll do it. I'll do it. I gotta get a little more jacked like you. But. But that's cool. So. So hearing the story from the ending, everybody can judge the story. Okay, well, now you have this like rich guy in America, you know, like, you're a rich white man, bro. You're. You're like a very hated class of people, which I resemble that remark too.

[Brad Wymer]

Yeah.

[Preston Brown]

And everybody loves to judge a good story by the ending, but you don't come across as the type that just started with like, loads of money. I don't take you for the guy that started as the lucky sperm club self made or parent made billionaire. Like, you're a guy that built himself up. Can we hear a little bit from the beginning? Like, how did you start out? Where did you start, like, kind of childhood on? Where did you get the entrepreneur bug? Like, what were some of the problems that you faced? We believe in this podcast that you're. Your problems are your gifts, and those problems are also your guides and your mentors. And those problems turn you into the profit in your space and generate the profit in your life. Can you give us a little bit of the rags to riches?

[Brad Wymer]

Sure, yeah. I mean, I grew up upper middle class, both parents were doctors, and I was a full derelict. I mean, I got arrested probably 11 times when I was in high school and was completely irreverent. Had a big issue with authority. Still do probably. And when I was 18, I found sales and I started working for this company, Vector, which sells Cutco cutlery. And so that was my entry point into business and sales. And to date, I've got a very close circle of friends that grew up in Cutco. That's how I met Justin, Donald, Hal Elrod, John Rulin, who just passed away recently, but a bunch of great, great people inside of that ecosystem. And it taught me the fundamentals of sales. But more importantly, it taught me self awareness, self reflection and accountability to the outcome. Accountability to your actions relative to the outcome that you're after. It was a, I mean, completely transformative experience for me. Had I not found that, I don't know what would have taught me that. Hopefully something, but it was a great, great, great tool to teach me that. But I got to a point with it after I was the number one rep in the company in 2001. And then I had great friends that were the number one reps. 2002, three, four, that era. And we're all doing sort of interesting things now. But it was pretty clear to me, like, I'm not going to sell knives my whole life.

[Preston Brown]

And I pause you. Yeah, this is good. But I want to pause here because I want to come back to here. But we, like, skipped to the juicy part, okay? Like, we. I was the derelict. I was in and out of jail. I had a problem with authority. Like, there's this common theme that I'm seeing with amazing human beings, which you absolutely hit the category of. And they all started somewhere shitty. Like, they all. Like, there was some decision moment, and it might have been a jail cell, or it could have been a divorce, or it could have been a death in the family, or it could have been something else where they made a decision and everything changed. If you don't mind, I would love hitting some of those pieces that we see, because, man, there's people watching right now that are living that stage that may not have the option of Cutco, but something else can come up. Where was that decision? Where was that? Like, give us some of that pain story and what came out of it.

[Brad Wymer]

Yeah, I mean, I feel tremendously grateful to have grown up in the situation I did with supportive parents that got me out of trouble. And I have great sympathy for underprivileged kids that followed the same path that I did, but got stuck in a system and it was very hard for them to get out if they ever got out. So I think that, like, the underprivileged group in our country in particular needs a lot of attention to get help to get out of that system, because you can make one mistake and be the wrong color in the wrong neighborhood with the wrong background and be by the legal system for life. So I feel very grateful that I had 11 strikes in my youth and still was able to do that.

[Preston Brown]

Yeah, you had. You had a great prospect for jobs after that, huh?

[Brad Wymer]

Well, I mean, I was a single white man, so, like, yeah, I didn't. I didn't have a great prospect for jobs, with the record, but I wasn't totally discounted, you know, and in some areas you would be. So the sales. I was smoking weed all the time. The arrests were nothing like malicious. It was, you know, drugs, alcohol. I think vandalism was one. It was spray painting a wall when I was a kid.

[Preston Brown]

You were an artist.

[Brad Wymer]

I was an artist. I was an artist, a dui. You know, it was all just reckless.

[Preston Brown]

But the cop was probably profiling everyone on that sidewalk, huh?

[Brad Wymer]

It was all probably just reckless behavior. But the. The turning point, honestly, was just. I saw. I wanted money, and I saw an ad for. You know, I think it was like, 15 bucks an hour commission only. But it said 15 bucks an hour per appointment. And I had no frame. I was just naive. I had no idea what commission only meant, and I had no idea that I should be skeptical. So I did it. And I did exactly what they told me to do and immediately saw some success in doing that. And my manager was so supportive, and he applauded me for doing it. He was like, great job. You're doing amazing. And I was like, I just did what you told me to do. And that was the beginning of it. And had I not had that manager, had I not had the system, had I not had their conviction to tell me, hey, this will work, I wouldn't have done it. But I also needed that ignorance, and I needed to be naive in that situation. And so many people stop themselves because they're skeptical of a situation, so they don't bother trying. And that's where you fail in sales for sure. So I need. The sales mechanism was the beginning for me. It was like, oh, shit, I can just do more, and I'll make more. And that was the ownership of the outcome. I mean, that was really the transformation for me was that recognition.

[Preston Brown]

I love that. I resonate with that. Like, I got. I joined the Air Force. I got kicked out of the Air Force because I beat up a cop. And, you know, it was. It was an immediate felony. I didn't get to spend any time in Fort Leavenworth on a technicality, thank God. But I got to look at the job prospects when I was going to school, and I realized, oh, shit, like, I'm either a waiter or. Or I'm maybe a roofer, a contractor. These are the places that felons go. Or I can go take a risk and be an entrepreneur. And it forced sales. And I'll tell you, I think sales saved my life, too. Like, I mean, the most important thing about selling is you can start selling yourself on maybe who you can be. And it was so. So I love where we're going, and I love what you're giving. And thank you, by the way, for your authenticity, because it's. So many people need to hear this, and so many parents out there need to know that. Let your kids go sell something.

[Brad Wymer]

Yeah.

[Preston Brown]

Like, let Them take the risk, let them fall on their ass. Let them do that. Otherwise they're gonna fall on their ass and they're gonna have a little more trouble on the way there. So thank you, bro.

[Brad Wymer]

Yeah, I mean, that's probably a good lesson in business too. I think it's really easy to step in and prevent your staff from making mistakes and not learning their own lesson. And so I'm told. And I think that also stunts the growth of your staff and ultimately stunts the growth of your company and keeps you as the bottleneck in the company.

[Preston Brown]

If your name was Mike, I would drop you right now because, I mean, we can almost end the podcast right here on the value we've given. I don't want to like, God, we're going to keep going. But, but yes, I mean, 100%, that's gold. That's, that's absolutely gold. Okay, so, so we're Cutco. We're selling like, like where did the Cutco chapter, like start ending and the entrepreneurship journey, where you were kind of moving from like your 1099 position into a business, where did that start shifting?

[Brad Wymer]

Well, I did a couple other things through that. Like I. Somebody sucked me into a network marketing company. That.

[Preston Brown]

Which one? Name drop.

[Brad Wymer]

It was, it was called US Health Advisors and actually this guy Pete Vargas, who was another cut. Old Cutco person.

[Preston Brown]

I know Pete. Yeah.

[Brad Wymer]

So I'm still friends with Pete today and Pete's doing great things today.

[Preston Brown]

Great guy.

[Brad Wymer]

But he pulled me into US Health Advisors and you know, the, the network marketing model absolutely can work well. I don't like the dynamics of participating in it myself, but I have, I have many friends that have either started network marketing companies and built them to great success or participated in and made millions of dollars a year doing it. I just don't like the social dynamics of it really, but played with that a little bit, did not do well, went back to Cutco and then I, I built this list of criteria of things that was important in the next venture because it was clear to me that the, the, the game was resetting every year with Cutco and it was very transactional. You know, you're selling and taking a commission and it's totally dependent on your behavior and activities. So the list of criteria was stuff like no cap on income, location independent, recession resistant, residual, by nature, tech focused, B2B and the ability to make a lot of money fast. And I found.

[Preston Brown]

Hold on, let's, let's redo that because that's gold and I want to make sure no cap on income, open location. B2B residual opportunities. What were the ones I missed?

[Brad Wymer]

Tech focused tech.

[Preston Brown]

Okay. Huge.

[Brad Wymer]

Yep. The ability to make a lot of money fast.

[Preston Brown]

Awesome.

[Brad Wymer]

Yep. And payments, it is. It is very, very hard to make a lot of money fast in payments. Payments is a slow build because you are literally taking pennies, you know, per transaction. And interestingly enough, Pete Vargas also introduced me to the first payments company that I was a part of. So he introduced me to payments as a concept. I met the owner of this payments company in Phoenix and he showed me how the industry worked. I became a 1099 for him. And while I was doing that, and I had no intention at that point of starting anything, I just knew I was good at sales. Right. So I was just going to sell in payments. And I should say, by the way, that the best thing on that list, the absolute best decision that I made as 25 year old Brad, was to be in B2B. And the reason for that is that I knew when I got out of Cutco, I had been selling to Mrs. Jones the whole time. B2C, right. I'm selling to consumers. And at the end of that journey, the only asset I had was my sales skills. But I had no list, I had no relationships, I had no network. And it occurred to me at that age actually, because my friend John Rulin had been selling to companies instead of individuals in Cutco, so he was selling corporate gift programs that he had all these relationships with entrepreneurs. And I was like, damn, that's amazing. Because when you shift gears or something happens in your life, it is your relationships that allow the next chapter to happen. It is your relationships that support you through that stuff. So B2B was the best decision that I could have possibly made. And today, I mean, I think that I'm in a different place. But throughout my entire journey coming up through payments, it occurred to me that if everything goes sideways at any point in time, worst case scenario, I can go work as the CEO of somebody else of like a buddy's company for several hundred grand a year or a million a year. In really realistic scenario, I would just start another company with one of them.

[Preston Brown]

So this is, this is gold. And I want to pause again because I'm in a lot of B2C companies. I am a lover of B2C. Like, I'm a believer that B2C is the highest margin opportunity, especially if you're selling luxury products and they come with luxury margins. And so you're giving me like a new piece. I mean, it's a B2B businesses, but they are a little margin squeezed because business people are. They're still consumers, but they're, I don't want to say smarter market driven and get sold quite the same way that a consumer would. Like B2B, it's very rare to sell the Rolex or the Coach Purse. Right. You're selling a product, you have a more stationary margin like in the payments, it is pennies. But I loved what you said on the relationships and the scalability. And it is much harder to develop a large volume B2C company. Can we stay on this a little bit and dissect the B2B?

[Brad Wymer]

Yeah, totally. Well, so you have a frame of the seven stages of an entrepreneur that people can dig into and look at your work and check that out further if they haven't. I think that if you're assessing what types of businesses to be in, the rationale of B2B for me was relevant to a specific stage of my journey. So as a young entrepreneur, when I'm coming up, it was a really, really valuable tool because it allowed me to build a network. It doesn't mean it's the only way to build a network, but it did it by default. So, like one of the benefits to owning the real estate underneath your business that you operate in or owning your home is in a lot of capacities. It's a forced retirement account. Right. As long as you don't do something really dumb, you by default, you're going to have equity in that thing later and it's going to be worth something later. And I think the same thing is true of building a business that's in B2B is as long as you come up and you build the business, you make revenue, you figure out entrepreneurship, you are by default building a network of other entrepreneurs around you that can support you. It is a part of the game necessarily. So I don't think that it's necessary. Like if I were to assess a business today, I don't know that B2B would be part of the criteria for me at all. But it was really valuable to have it be early on in the journey.

[Preston Brown]

Wow, that is so fascinating. I. We could build an entire masterclass on this. And it's not something I've never thought of, but I've never framed it that way in my head. And you're making me think, and I think a lot of the entrepreneurs listening need to think about that on where they're at and where they need to be. And I do think, I mean, your results are Directly correlated to your relationships. And unless you're a unicorn, B2B is a natural relationship generator that is going to create so many. Like, it's an opportunity garden. So many things can grow there. And I've never necessarily. Like, I'm sitting here listening to you, and I'm just enjoying the genius of Brad. Like, don't stop now. You're feeding me. Sorry, listeners, I was doing this for you. Now I'm just enjoying for me. Sorry, guys.

[Brad Wymer]

To your point, when you're saying you've got a bunch of businesses that fit into all these other categories, When I think about other businesses now, first of all, I personally stop myself from going down that path because I don't want to have 20 businesses and seven that I operate, mostly because I know that I'll get distracted. And I just. Right now, my core focus is head down, drive the. Drive the main channel, get the ship bigger, keep building to, you know, probably exit at some point. But I'm pretty happy going through that growth curve right now.

[Preston Brown]

How many businesses do you have today?

[Brad Wymer]

I mean, I have a bunch of entities. You know, I have investments in a bunch of different businesses, but, like, you know, there's a club in town, a restaurant in town, but those are more investments than, you know, I don't operate those at all. It's really real estate. The podcast payments, those are the core.

[Preston Brown]

Love that. All right.

[Brad Wymer]

And then, of course, real estate split into, you know, a million entities based on the properties or whatever.

[Preston Brown]

Yeah. And how you're restructuring the risk throughout the entities. Yeah, no, makes. Makes perfect sense. Okay. I keep pausing you because you keep getting gold moments. And I'm like, more.

[Brad Wymer]

That's iPhone payments. And in pretty quickly inside of. Oh. So when I got into payments, I didn't have the ability to make a lot of money fast. And you're building a residual. Right. So you're getting these little. Little bits of money that come in with every account that you bring on. But I also didn't know how to market anything. I knew sales, but I didn't know how to market. So I was just knocking on doors, cold calling to build the portfolio initially, which is brutal. And in cold calling face to face was not my expertise. Cold calling over the phone, different than face to face. Cold calling B2C is different than cold calling B2B. Right. Interrupting somebody in the middle of their workday to try to sell them some shit, Very different than calling somebody at home and pitching them on something. So that was a huge learning curve. But through that process, I flipped A bunch of houses. And so I did that to make chunks of cash. Right. And I watched some. I think I actually, I think Ron LeGrand's course was probably the first real estate course that I watched. And it was, it basically taught me the fundamentals of flipping. And I had a friend that was. I was flipping houses with. So that gave me these chunks of cash in 060708, which basically floated my lifestyle while I built up the residual. Now, as you may or may not remember, 0708, not great times to buy real estate and hold it, which is what we were doing. We were buying, flipping and holding and renting.

[Preston Brown]

So if you've got some of that today, you were fine.

[Brad Wymer]

Well, depending on where you buy it. Depending on where you buy it. And these particular properties were in Indianapolis and Indianapolis is not a high growth market, specifically the areas that I had them in. So we, I got to a point with those where we had, you know, I had one, one property in particular that was. We had a $250,000 loan on it, which you could get loans in an instant at that point. And it probably ended up after the market crash being worth 60 grand and in not a great area. So it would take a very long time to get back there. And I don't even know if it did, probably did today. But in the meantime, I was so leveraged on these things that I had pulled a bunch of cash out, but I was either break even or bleeding on them when they were vacant. So I was making a tiny bit of, tiny bit of money when somebody was in them. And then I was bleeding when they were vacant. And I was probably losing 30 grand a year on this portfolio, this little portfolio, properties, five properties. And when I did the math on it, like five years would pass and I'm losing all this money. And I was like, shit, if I hold these another five years, I'm still gonna have this vacancy problem, still gonna have repairs I'd have to do. And I don't think the value is gonna be much higher in five years and I will have lost all this money. Why don't I just write a check to get out of the properties? And I couldn't foreclose because I had other assets. So I ended up taking out a. I want to say I took out a $250,000 loan from a local bank in Austin in 2014 and then paid that off over the course of the first year. And in order to get rid of the properties, so $250,000 loan so that I Could sell the properties. And I basically, I wrote a check at closing, and then I had this thing that I had to pay for. And the silver lining there is that I looked at that in, you know, in retrospect, I looked at as one, education and two, a loan to start Easy Pay Direct because I needed that chunk of cash in order to get Easy Pay direct off the ground.

[Preston Brown]

Let's pause there. I. That, that I. You said something that I think is so critical in. I looked at that as like, there's. I had a mentor one time, and he said, do you know the difference between perception and perspective? And I was like, no. And he said, well, perception is seeing what is. And perspective is the filter you place on it. So, like racism or some other dumb thought, like, that is just a perspective.

[Brad Wymer]

Right.

[Preston Brown]

Like you're putting a filter over your thought, and that's a bad filter. Right. But you came to a bad situation and you actually put a good filter on it. And you said, I'm gonna look at this as I've invested in an education. You bought a college degree. Yeah, but the way you looked at it, like, I'd like, how did you get to. I'm gonna look at that this way. How did you get there? Cause, I mean, so many people, they get into this problem state, and if they just looked at it differently and worked in that angle, they would get out. But if they don't, if they just see it as the perception and they don't apply a positive perspective, they actually stay in hell.

[Brad Wymer]

Yeah.

[Preston Brown]

Like, what was it that was like this underwriting moment or epiphany or download whatever the you call it? Who cares? That hit you. What shifted that?

[Brad Wymer]

Yeah, I think that, you know, there's this expression, one day we're going to laugh at that. And I think that the game of life is, how do you get that one day to be today, and then how do you get it to be right now? And the more you can compress those things, the easier you can move through the challenges of life. But if the challenges of life cause you to ruminate on them for long periods of time, you typically don't learn from them. And so the faster you can get to the point of levity and saying, yeah, this shit happened, and what do I do about it? And go to problem solving mode instead of problem rumination, the more you're going to get done in life. So when I was in sales early, this is why the introduction to sales was so important to me, because it became clear that I was the one responsible for the outcome, period, full stop. I was the one responsible. And if I am the one responsible, I should be doing everything I can to put myself in the best position possible. And that ended up being the driver for changing diet for my mental diet. What I was listening to, what I was bringing in to exercise, everything. How can I be better so that I can show up better? Because I'm the one responsible for the outcomes that I'm getting. And ultimately, there were tons of things, but Tony Robbins was a huge part of it. I got. There's a path to how I got here. But I got Personal power, too, on CDs in 2000, and I was driving to all my appointments. And so I listened to Tony Robbins. And it was. It's interesting because Tony now, when you hear him, now you hear him unfiltered. And Personal Power, too, was pretty cleaned up. I mean, it was a different era entirely. No swearing, no raw discussions about sexuality. Like, it was just. But it was very thoughtful mindset and exercise frameworks on how to improve. And today, when you hear Tony Robbins, he deliberately uses strong language for impact and to break frame. And it's much more fun to listen to than Personal Power is, especially if you go back and listen to them. But it's that I think that was the beginning for me, was really beginning to take ownership.

[Preston Brown]

I love that. And I've got a really interesting history with Tony Robbins. Like, I joined his Platt group, I joined his Lions Group. When he stopped traveling, I opened a travel agency. I got the scary letters from Tony Robbins attorneys. So Tony, my mentor, sued me. And so I've got a weird kind of history with Tony. But to this day, like, I mean, people are like, oh, so you have a love hate? I'm like, no, I don't have a love hate. Like, honestly, like, the guy gave me a breakthrough, even if he didn't intend to. And maybe it wasn't him. It might have been someone in his staff. But I still refer people. You need to go to his upw. You need to go with this date with Destiny. The guy has helped so many people.

[Brad Wymer]

Yeah.

[Preston Brown]

Now, maybe in hindsight, don't open a competing firm if you want to avoid a crazy fucking lawsuit. But. But his. I've listened to Personal Power, and it was so good. Like, I prefer the F bomb Tony.

[Brad Wymer]

Me too.

[Preston Brown]

But I got so much out of that as well. And I will say that I will personally endorse a guy that has sued me because of how amazing that is. I love hearing that. I hear that in so many People. So many great people have had a seed from Tony.

[Brad Wymer]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think that, you know, the. So we, you know, we are. Easy Pay Direct is probably the largest payment provider for coaches, consultants, creators. And Tony, we've done a bunch of product launches for Tony Robbins. A lot of people reasonably have skepticism of gurus out there. You know, Tony did a Netflix special called I am not your guru. It was great, great branding for that. But there's good reason to be skeptical of those people that are out there promoting personal development, life coaching, and I'm going to teach you. And there's good reason. There's many good reasons. But what you can't dispute is somebody that has been doing it for 40 years and still fills rooms of tens of thousands of people. Well.

[Preston Brown]

And he's living it 100%, and he's.

[Brad Wymer]

Got a bunch of businesses, and he's worth a shit ton of money.

[Preston Brown]

And he looks good, like, at his age. Like, I mean, I've got my own disagreements with some of the things he says, but, you know, I didn't used to. He came out with his Netflix special, and I was like, I watched it, but I must not have listened because I totally gurued him.

[Brad Wymer]

Yeah. Like.

[Preston Brown]

And so when he sued me, it was a complete betrayal. But I have so much respect for the guy, even though I have disagreements on certain things, obviously, because he's living it. Like, the guy's like, what? Like, he's approaching 70 or some shit. And he still looks great.

[Brad Wymer]

Looks great. Yeah, yeah.

[Preston Brown]

I mean, he's. He's living it. He seems to have a good marriage. He seems to have, like, great businesses. Like, And. And you get in these conversations with amazing people, and there's oftentimes. Not always, but oftentimes a common theme of. Tony was a seed.

[Brad Wymer]

Well, that. And that's my point. Right. As people are people. And it's very hard to tell what's going on in somebody's personal life behind the scenes. But you cannot operate publicly in the public eye for 40 years and get that kind of positive press behind you unless you're doing something right.

[Preston Brown]

Yeah, Well, I mean, I just gave the guy positive press, and he litigated against me. So, you know, I mean, you got to be doing something. Okay. Yeah. Tony, you're a dick. And thank you. You know.

[Brad Wymer]

Yeah.

[Preston Brown]

So that's. That's. Sorry. Another fun pause. That's. That's great. You just have a unique identity, and I love identity. Like, identity is one of my favorite things to dissect, if you want.

[Brad Wymer]

I'VE decided that I'm no longer going to pronounce it that way. And moving forward, I'm going to pronounce identity.

[Preston Brown]

So. So let's drive into identity. You come from doctor parents, like wildly successful parents, at least in that age and stage. And you're rebellious.

[Brad Wymer]

I mean, I'll go upper middle class. I don't know about wildly successful, but upper middle class, you know, they're doctors.

[Preston Brown]

Even if they weren't like rich rich.

[Brad Wymer]

Yeah.

[Preston Brown]

I dated a doctor like, before I met my amazing wife. And it was amazing the clout she had because of the doctor in front of her neck.

[Brad Wymer]

Yeah. Well, I'll also tell you that the. That era of people, it was go to college, get a good job. Right. And that was the roadmap. And that roadmap worked then, and it still works today, I think, to some extent. But the path for being specifically a doctor or attorney, look, those are not easy paths. Like, you grind. You are in school for ever, right? You deal with all the stuff that goes with that. It completely dominates your life. When you're going through that path, you just don't get the financial reward that an entrepreneur gets later. And you learn different lessons, but you.

[Preston Brown]

Get some of the ego built. And where I'm linking things right now, to use a Tony word, linking is here's this guy like, and I would have never assumed you came from doctor parents with the Mohawk. You're having problem.

[Brad Wymer]

I don't know that they agree with the Mohawk. I'm not sure they love it. In fact, I know my father does not love it.

[Preston Brown]

But you're a kid. Like, my kid today. Like, I'm kind of like, I'm placing you. And I got a kid named Everett, and he's amazing, but we've got a whole journey with him. But he's looking up at his wildly successful parents at least. I mean, he's not seeing financial statements. He doesn't know what's this, but he sees people coming around like, oh my gosh, Preston, oh, you changed my life. Oh, this. You know, and like, like a doctor, like, how many lives does a doctor save in a weekly basis? Right? Like, I mean, amazing human beings get a beautiful gift.

[Brad Wymer]

Agreed.

[Preston Brown]

You were a kid looking up at your parents. I mean, it's almost natural that you'd rebel. And my kid, at the ripe old age of 8 is doing some of the rebellion, and I'm getting a little life less and sitting here like, oh my gosh, I need to accept some of this rebellion and not like, crush it. Like, how did that start building in to the identity of Brad?

[Brad Wymer]

Man? You know, I. I don't know. I've thought about that quite a bit, because I don't know, as a parent, how I would handle that.

[Preston Brown]

No, no, take it from the kid.

[Brad Wymer]

Yeah.

[Preston Brown]

Like, how are you looking at the parents? And like, shit, that's unachievable as you're sitting in a jail cell. And then, oh, shit, that's achievable because now, arguably, you're more successful than most doctors you could ever meet. Yeah, okay. Yeah, But. But you had to go through an up, down, down, up, up, down, down, up journey to, like. Yeah, to find that.

[Brad Wymer]

Yeah. I mean, here's what I can say. My. And I mentioned this before relative to sales and. And the money driving me and being like, oh, shit, I can just do more and I'll make more. At a very young age, I think I was probably 8, and I was sitting on the floor, and my. My father had a. Like, a little office that he called his study in our home. And he was, like, working on some presentation he was giving for some medical convention. And he sits next to me and he says, so what do you want to be when you grow up? And I'm like, maybe I was six. I don't know. I'm playing on the ground. And after I said, you know, a firefighter or Superman or a bird or some, he was like, would you ever be a doctor? And I was like, nah. I was like, I don't think so. And he said, and this is what stuck with me. If you want to make money, don't be a doctor. And it didn't consciously settle in, but I remembered it years later. And ultimately, I think that that was a formative moment of bringing me towards sales and bringing me towards business. And then, you know, the business unfolded as I was in sales independently and just realized I needed more control over the product I was selling, and there was a better way to do it. And that was the beginning of Easy Pay Direct was like, okay, I can do this better. There's a different path to go than the traditional payment provider that I was working for. But the catalyst was that. That took me away from the parent path, was there's not enough money in this, or there was some frustration there. And I didn't. You know, there was no logic behind it for me. It just was a seed that got planted. Yeah.

[Preston Brown]

And very relevant to lots. I mean, relevant to me right now as I'm watching my kid. Everything he needs to do, he needs to be the best on Earth. He's going and looking. He wants cubing now, and he wants to be the best cuber Earth. And I need to be more supportive of this, and I'm not as supportive of this as I should be. And that's. I'm creating his rebellion. And I literally. I got that out of what you were talking right now as he's rebelling because I'm not supportive of the epic shit he's doing. Very Brad. Like, I didn't know we were gonna be doing a therapy session. I thought we were gonna be doing a podcast. And it's all therapy now. It's live for the world. That's so cool.

[Brad Wymer]

It's all therapy.

[Preston Brown]

Let's dive into. You said something else. Because I believe that where you find paradox at the intersection is truth. And, you know, I don't remember who it was, but somebody hit me with, well, can God create a rock so big that God cannot lift the rock? And I was like, oh, yes and no. And if God is God, he could make himself so small or he could make the rock so big, or. I mean, there's truth in a paradox. And you said this word control, which is a paradox for entrepreneurs. Like, we get in for control, but right now, with 30 employees, there's no way you have 100% control. There is a chance that every day of the week, one of those 30 people and. Or one of the customers, the thousands of customers that they serve, is epically something up for you.

[Brad Wymer]

Yeah.

[Preston Brown]

So let's dive into some of the paradox of control and how you've balanced that.

[Brad Wymer]

I don't know that I have. I think that it's an ongoing struggle and challenge to try to figure that out. And I think that the. One of the reasons that I still. That I haven't sold Easy Pay Direct is because I believe that I have a lot more on my journey through the continued scale of it. And so the lessons to learn are the reason to be in it at this point. And I am learning that lesson repeatedly of how to empower, uplift, get other people to take ownership and get the best out of themselves. And we started by talking about allowing employees to fail or allowing children to fail to learn their own lessons. And I'm repeatedly trying to do that. And also I'm conflicted with both the control element and also the element of I want to put my stamp on it, and I'm ultimately responsible for it. So, you know, some things you can. Some things you can't. There is a. There's a. Jeff Bezos framework that is one way doors and two way doors that we try to live by inside the walls of Easy Pay Direct and I try to learn from and that is that you should let staff go through as many one way or as many two way doors as possible. Meaning if you can run through the door and just turn around and come back through it. You don't need my clearance to do that. Go do it. Because it's an easy mistake to resolve. If it's a one way door and you're going to open that door and it's going to lock behind you and it's going to be a. To undo that mistake, we should probably premeditate that action a little bit further.

[Preston Brown]

Can I, Can I. So we have a similar thing at my office and based on our size, we've put a number on it too.

[Brad Wymer]

A dollar amount for the problem.

[Preston Brown]

Yeah, yeah. So my thought is 50 grand and so any of my C suites. And of course they translate that down to the directors of operations that run the companies have a different number depending on the company. Right. But the C suites, any door that will cost risk REWARD Less than 50 grand, I don't give a. As long as you can run back through it, lose 50 grand. But if it's 100, come talk to me, you know what I mean? So if it's 51, come talk to me. Let's underwrite it together. If it's 50 or less, you know, it will of course impact the upside of the company. It will impact draws and bonuses, it will impact all that. So there's a net effect that we all feel later. But I don't mind if they make a mistake of 50 grand or less. And I love that because it's something you're saying I don't balance it, but it sounds like you balance it beautifully. And there is no, there's no such thing as balance. There's priorities. And like everybody's like looking. Common question that I get with like entrepreneurs and people is like, well what about work life balance? I'm like, work life balance, like go with priorities. Like that's, that's what you need. And, and dude, you are dropping some bombs. Like that piece of let them go through the two way doors, you know, within a comfort zone of finance is, is so critical. And if I've said this already probably twice, if people got nothing else but that, like, honestly, like you guys should probably rewind the show like right now and listen to it again and then we'll have more shit coming. So anyway, continue like this is so good.

[Brad Wymer]

Well, I think, like, like I said, I mean, this is a learning lesson for me repeatedly. And I find I see myself getting in my own way on this all the time. So I'm consistently trying to navigate the best path for that. And there are the contrary examples of these massive leaders in the world, like Elon Musk and Steve Jobs, that are notorious for getting very involved in the problems and dictating the ultimate path that they're going and consistently being present during that. And so I'm consistently trying to reconcile that. The other thing you mentioned, control. And control is the wrong word. It's influence is the right word. And I want as much influence on a situation as possible. And some things I have total influence, and that would be control. And some things I have very little influence. But I believe one of the few absolutes in life is that you always have influence. Always. And sometimes it feels like nothing, but it's not. And sometimes it's everything and it's very clear. But you can always do something to change the outcome.

[Preston Brown]

Man, you dropped so many bombs. Like, ownership does not get you your profits. Ownership gets you responsibility. Responsibility gets your profits, influence. I mean, we were talking about right before the show, like, how much we think about, like, death, right? Which I think is a common thought when, when we're in this, you've had some success, you've done well, and you have this finite life. Then you go mention Elon Musk and all these guys. And I told you something. I said, I'm not scared of death. Like, I don't. I don't care. Like, if I die. The only thing I worry about is, like, losing the love that I'm really enjoying the experience of for my kids and wife and I, I feel like I found the path to immortality and it links to what you said. If you want to be immortal, like, we're not going to be immortal. We're not going to live forever. But we have great men, whether you love them or hate them, right now that I think are doing something amazing for men on this planet. And love them or hate them, Elon Musk, Donald Trump, all these crazy masculine dudes that are at the top of the top right now, they're more than men. They've become an idea. And that idea is inspiring people. And if we're not human beings that sometimes have a spiritual experience, but rather spiritual beings that are having this human experience and we can find a way to become an idea. And what you're dropping right now, Brad, is you're dropping all these ideas that you have become in your identity, like, you've bought into them, and it's gold because people need to hear it. They need to hear about the ideas, because the ideas are what they get to become. Like, that's. That's where, like, you know, with the faith of mustard seeds, you can move mountains. Like, what's that faith? What's that idea like, bro? Like, you are giving. Like, this might be, like, the best show we've done yet. I'm so excited to go rewatch this.

[Brad Wymer]

You're too nice, man.

[Preston Brown]

Keep. Keep going, man. Like, I mean, I'm. I'm loving it. Like, so let's dive into the identity and the I am. Because, like, you're a cool cat. You're not, like, the typical guy that I meet that's successful. Like, I mean, when I looked at your picture, I was like, he's got a mohawk. And, like, we prejudge we perspective. Like, I mean, I didn't judge you for the Mohawk, but my first thought is, like, the words out of my grandfather's mouth about Mohawks. Right. Which I let my kid get. And I'm like, but he's really successful, and he knows all the people I know. And, like. And. And I had to get over this with tattoos.

[Brad Wymer]

Like.

[Preston Brown]

Like, I don't have any tattoos. But I. I've decided when I get really buffed one day, I'm gonna get, like, barbed wire on my arm. My wife thinks I'm an idiot for this. But, like, you. You have an identity that is all you. And, like, if I'm. If I go ask, like, who is Brad? You can say, I am this. I am this. Like, like, who is Brad? And like. Like, because I want people to hear, like, the identity pieces that make you up. Because to me, like, And I never know where these are going, but this is kind of what I'm feeling. And sometimes I just vibe some shit. When people can establish their own identity, like, mostly not just who you are, but who you're not. Right. Is maybe a bigger question.

[Brad Wymer]

Yeah.

[Preston Brown]

Then they can really decide who they are and actually go out and make real change. Like. Like, who is Brad on an identity? If we had to go, like, with, like, five statements of Brad, who is he?

[Brad Wymer]

My identity is, I think, ultimately developed around what I. What I believe my values are. And I believe that growth is the thing that makes you happy in life, and you could frame that as progress if you want. And I think those are synonymous. I think integrity is really important, and I think the most important thing that you can do in life. One of them is be true to your word. And I don't care what that thing is. If you say you're going to do something, do it. And if you don't want to do it, don't say you're going to do it. Like, simple, easy thing to live by. I think relationships drive everything else. I think it serves you to look at the ror, the return on relationship before the roi. My mother likes to say everything in moderation. And I will add to that, including moderation.

[Preston Brown]

I love that.

[Brad Wymer]

You know, I think I'm a work hard, play hard person and I struggle with that at times because the lack of moderation will bite you if you're not careful. Uh, I think those are, you know, those are at the, at the base of, of who I am, man.

[Preston Brown]

Well, everybody and I. And I want to respect your time because I know we're on a time crunch, but everybody needs like a daily dose of this. Like this, this is something that people need to hear. Like, where can people like dive into you? Where can they find you? I mean, anybody can go and like download my courses, do this. Where do they find you like and get, get some more of this?

[Brad Wymer]

Yeah, I mean, I don't spend much time. I think you get the most of this from the Beyond a million po. I think that you. It's conversations every week with badass business people like yourself. It's 8, 9, 10 figure entrepreneurs talking all business stuff. But then we end up a huge part of business is our life lessons and relationships. And the beautiful thing about business to me is that you get these cycles of learning so much faster than you do in the rest of life because you have concrete challenges that involve a whole bunch of other people that need to be solved quickly that have financial repercussions. And you might ignore those in your personal life for a longer period of time. And you can't in business when you're doing it. So you get these quick cycles of learning and I think that it accelerates the growth of people independently. And are there really successful, shitty, ignorant business people? For sure. But I think there are a lot more really successful business people that have had a ton of interesting life experience that have a ton of lessons that they can share that apply to lots of areas of life. So beyond a Million podcast is one beyondamillion.com or YouTube.com beyondamillion and then Brad Weimert. My Instagram is a rambling narrative of my adventures of life and also some podcast stuff mixed in bro.

[Preston Brown]

We're gonna have you back if you'll come back. And I am so honored to have you on the show, man. This is absolute gold. Thank you so much.

[Brad Wymer]

Appreciate you, man. Have fun hanging out, all right?

[Preston Brown]

And for all of you out there listening, Rewind. Listen again. Brad Weimer and all of you out there, have an amazing day on purpose. Go learn something. Go do something. Take some action. You just got, like, 10, 12, 25 nuggets. Grab one. Leverage it, live it. Have an amazing day on purpose.