806. Q&AF: Competing On Price, Scaling Your Company To The Next Level & Pushing Through Setbacks

Summary

Podcast Summary: REAL AF with Andy Frisella – Episode 806

Title: Q&AF: Competing On Price, Scaling Your Company To The Next Level & Pushing Through Setbacks
Host: Andy Frisella
Description: In this episode of REAL AF with Andy Frisella, Andy engages with his audience through a Q&AF (Questions & Answers and Feedback) segment, addressing pressing issues faced by entrepreneurs and business owners. The discussions delve into strategies for competing on price, scaling businesses effectively, and overcoming significant setbacks.

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1. Introduction and Show Format

Andy Frisella kicks off Episode 806 by welcoming listeners to the Q&AF segment, where he answers questions submitted by his audience. He outlines the various components of his shows, including:

• CTI (Cruise the Internet): Discussing trending topics and global issues.
• Real Talk: Short segments where Andy shares candid insights.
• 75 Hard Verses: Featuring individuals who have completed the 75 Hard program, discussing their transformations.

Andy emphasizes his commitment to providing valuable content without the interruption of advertisements, instead urging listeners to support the show by sharing it within their networks.

Andy Frisella [00:44]: "We don't run ads on the show... I ask very simply that you trade us something for that. Trade us helping us grow the show."

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2. Competing On Price

Listener Question:
A listener shares his struggle as the owner of a landscape business that also installs professional-grade Christmas lights. His competitors are undercutting prices to the extent that he cannot cover his costs, despite offering superior quality. He refuses to lower his prices and seeks advice on maintaining his business's integrity and profitability.

Andy’s Response:
Andy begins by addressing the fundamental issue of perceived value versus market reality.

Andy Frisella [07:28]: "You don't determine your worth. The market does."

He explains that even if a business owner believes their product or service is superior, it must be communicated effectively to the customers. Simply asserting higher quality isn't enough; entrepreneurs must educate their market about why their offerings are worth the premium.

Key Points:

• Market Perception: Understand that the market defines worth. Superior quality must be clearly demonstrated.
• Storytelling: Develop compelling stories that highlight the unique benefits and superior aspects of your services.
• Customer Experience: Enhance the overall customer experience to justify higher prices, making clients feel valued and special.
• Niche Targeting: Accept that charging a premium might mean catering to a smaller, more dedicated customer base willing to pay for quality.

Andy Frisella [08:33]: "Any product that you serve that is a superior product... you need to display how it's superior and why it's worth more money."

Andy encourages business owners to think creatively about adding value through customer experiences, such as offering professional photographs of the installed lights or providing additional personalized services that set their business apart from cheaper competitors.

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3. Scaling Your Company To The Next Level

Listener Question:
A listener is preparing to scale his company and faces challenges with key team members who cannot handle the increased workload. He expresses concern over maintaining personal connections while ensuring the business grows efficiently.

Andy’s Response:
Andy emphasizes the separation between personal relationships and business performance.

Andy Frisella [15:35]: "Loving guys and them being effective is two different things."

Key Points:

• High Standards: Maintain high performance standards regardless of personal relationships. Effective scaling requires a team that meets these standards.
• Self-Development: Team members must be willing to develop their skills independently. Andy cannot instill discipline or knowledge; it must come from within.
• Natural Attrition: As a business scales, it's natural for less effective team members to leave, making way for more capable individuals.
• Culture is Crucial: Establishing a strong, intentional company culture before scaling is vital. This ensures new employees align with the company's values and standards.

Andy Frisella [19:07]: "Ideally, if you could set a cultural standard before you have to scale, it's going to be that much easier to scale."

He further discusses the importance of creating a living, breathing culture that enforces standards through peer accountability, reducing the burden on leadership to manage every aspect personally.

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4. Pushing Through Setbacks

Listener Question:
A 20-year-old listener recounts a harrowing experience where he fell asleep behind the wheel after exhausting himself with work. Caught in a dilemma of needing more money while recognizing the unsustainability of his current pace, he seeks guidance on maintaining progress without derailing his life.

Andy’s Response:
Andy highlights the importance of mental resilience and the ability to endure hardships without giving up.

Andy Frisella [27:58]: "The game is longevity. The game is endurance. The game is consistent progression regardless of what's going on."

Key Points:

• Endurance Over Perfection: Success often comes to those who persist when others quit. Longevity in effort provides a competitive edge.
• Learning from Setbacks: Use difficult experiences as tests to build mental toughness and confidence.
• Balanced Progression: While ambition is essential, it's crucial to balance effort with self-care to avoid burnout and catastrophic setbacks.
• Rejecting Myths: Andy criticizes the glorification of overworking, emphasizing that neglecting health and well-being is counterproductive.

Andy Frisella [31:54]: "Don't believe all these people online to tell you don't have to sleep. That's bullshit."

He advises embracing the inevitable challenges of entrepreneurship with a resilient mindset, transforming obstacles into opportunities for growth and fortitude.

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5. Additional Insights

Public Speaking Tips

Early in the episode, Andy shares valuable advice on becoming an effective speaker:

Andy Frisella [04:41]: "The number one tip... have the right intent."

Key Points:

• Value-Driven Intent: Focus on delivering value to the audience rather than seeking personal accolades or perfection.
• Authenticity: Being genuine resonates more with audiences than rehearsed or overly polished speeches.
• Continuous Practice: Regular speaking engagements, such as hosting a podcast or leading meetings, enhance speaking skills over time.

Andy Frisella [04:41]: "If your intent is to deliver value and help people, it really doesn't matter what you say or how you say it, because they're going to feel it and they're going to remember it."

Establishing Company Culture

In response to scaling, Andy delves deeper into the significance of company culture:

Andy Frisella [19:43]: "If you can set a cultural standard before you have to scale, it's going to be that much easier to scale."

Key Points:

• Intentional Culture Building: Define core values, mission statements, and visions clearly and communicate them effectively within the organization.
• Peer Accountability: Foster an environment where team members hold each other accountable to uphold the set standards.
• Long-Term Commitment: A strong culture ensures longevity and stability, contributing to both employee satisfaction and customer experience.

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6. Conclusion

Throughout Episode 806, Andy Frisella imparts pragmatic advice grounded in real-world business challenges. He underscores the necessity of:

• Defining and Communicating Value: To compete effectively, businesses must clearly articulate the superiority of their offerings.
• Maintaining High Standards During Scaling: Successful scaling is contingent on having a team that meets elevated performance standards.
• Fostering Mental Toughness: Overcoming setbacks with resilience is pivotal for sustained success.

Andy empowers entrepreneurs to navigate the complexities of business growth and personal development with integrity, strategic thinking, and unwavering perseverance.

Andy Frisella [37:11]: "Hard things have a hard path. Easy things have an easier path. Hard things are more valuable than easy things."

Listeners are encouraged to adopt a mindset that embraces challenges as stepping stones toward greater achievements, ensuring their ventures not only survive but thrive in competitive landscapes.

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Notable Quotes:

• On Perceived Value:
  "You don't determine your worth. The market does." [07:28]

• On Public Speaking:
  "If your intent is to deliver value and help people, it really doesn't matter what you say or how you say it, because they're going to feel it and they're going to remember it." [04:41]

• On Scaling and Culture:
  "If you could set a cultural standard before you have to scale, it's going to be that much easier to scale." [19:43]

• On Mental Resilience:
  "The game is longevity. The game is endurance. The game is consistent progression regardless of what's going on." [27:58]

• On Overcoming Challenges:
  "Hard things have a hard path. Easy things have an easier path. Hard things are more valuable than easy things." [37:11]

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Final Thoughts:

Andy Frisella's Episode 806 serves as a powerful guide for entrepreneurs facing the dual challenges of maintaining quality in a price-competitive market and scaling businesses without compromising on standards or personal well-being. His no-nonsense approach, combined with actionable strategies, provides listeners with the tools necessary to thrive amidst adversity and achieve lasting success.

Transcript

[A]

Yeah, went from sleeping on the floor now my jury box froze Bo stove counted millions in a cold bad booted swole got her own bank roll can't fold just a no headshot case clothes.

[B]

What is up guys? It's Andy for selling. This is the show for the Realist. Say goodbye to the lies, the fakeness and delusions of modern society and welcome to reality, guys. Today we have Q&AF. That's where you submit the questions and we give you the answers. If you want to submit a question be answered on the show, which can be about anything, business, life, how to kick ass, entrepreneurship, what's going on in the world, you could submit your questions a couple different ways. The first way is, guys, you can.

[C]

Email these questions into ask [e-mail] or.

[B]

You go on YouTube on the Q and A F episodes. Drop your question in the comments. We'll choose some from there as well. Now, if this is your first time listening, we have shows within the show. Tomorrow you're going to hear cruise the Internet. We call that cti. That's where we put topics on the screen. We speculate on what's going on in the world. We talk about what's true, what's not true, and then finally how we the people have to solve these problems going on in the world. Sometimes we're going to have real talk. Real talk is just five to 20 minutes of me giving you some real talk. And then we have what's called 75 hard verses. That's where someone who has completed the 75 hard program comes on. The show talks about how their life was before, how their life is now, and how you can do the same thing they've done using the 75 hard program. If you're unfamiliar with the 75 hard program, it is the world's most famous mental transformation program in history and it's available for free. It's also the initial phase of the sustainable lifestyle called Live Hard. All right, you get that for free on episode 208 on the audio feed only. It's not on YouTube, it's on the audio feed only. There is a book available. The book is available@andy furcella.com it's called the Book on Mental Toughness. It outlines the entire Live Hard program, top to bottom it much more detailed than the free podcast. Plus it has a whole bunch of chapters on mental toughness, how you can use it to transform your life, along with a bunch of case studies on people that you will recognize who have used it to transform their lives. All Right. Don't have to buy it. Very popular book. We're almost always sold out of it. I'd highly recommend it. All right? Now, we do things a little bit different on this show. We don't run ads on the show. You're going to notice that we're probably the biggest show in the world. In fact, I know we are. That doesn't run ads, all right? And I ask very simply that you trade us something for that. All right? Trade us. Helping us grow the show. Okay? We've been at this messaging for four and a half years, and had we grown the show to a proper place, we wouldn't be in the situation in society. And the reason that the show hasn't grown the way that it should is because a lot of people listen to the show and don't necessarily abide by the fee. Okay? So since I don't pump your ears full of advertising for 40 minutes, I ask very simply that you help us share the show. We're constantly dealing with censorship, shadow bands, traffic throttling, and it's up to you to help us grow the show. All right? So don't be a hoe.

[C]

Show the show.

[B]

All right. What's up, man?

[C]

What's going on, man? You sound a little bit better.

[B]

A little bit? It's taking forever.

[C]

Yeah. What do you think it was, like? Was it just like, weather or, like bioweapons from.

[B]

From chemtrails? I don't know, dude. It's. I get this, like, twice a year, man. I get it in the spring and I get it in the fall, and it me up every time. Every time you hear it on the show. Twice a year. I'll go horse for going through golden pipes. Stop working. Everybody stops getting paid.

[C]

Yeah. You know, it is an art form, though, the whole, like, even speaking thing.

[B]

The what?

[C]

Like just speaking in general. It's an art form, man.

[B]

It's just practice, dude.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

You know, people that want to be good speakers, they go out there and, you know, they recite in front of a mirror. They join, like, Toastmasters. I don't know if you know what Toastmasters is and where, like, you learn how to do. Yeah, you go in front of a bunch of people and you get speeches and all that shit's effective. But, dude, really, if you want to learn how to be an effective speaker, it's reps, you know, starting a podcast, even if nobody listens to it, and just do an episode after episode after episode, you're going to learn how to speak a lot better, you know? Get in front of people. One of the best things I ever did was, you know, obviously hold meetings in my companies. I got another one to hold tonight. You know, I hold multiple meetings a week where I have to, and I have for 20 years where I have to speak in front of people. So, like, you know, the more of that stuff you do, bro, the less anxious you're going to be about it and the more effective you are. And let me teach you a little secret, because I know there's a lot of people out here that want to become more effective speakers. The number one most effective tip that I can give one of you guys, see, we're going to get some extra sauce. We're just going to give it in the beginning.

[C]

I love the extra sauce.

[B]

But the number one tip that I can give you guys about becoming a better speaker is to have the right intent. If your intent is to go up there and be celebrated as a speaker, you're not going to do very well. If your intent is to go up there and recite a bunch of that you know, you planned out to say perfectly, you're not going to do well. If you go up there with the intent to deliver value and help people, it really doesn't matter what you say or how you say it, because they're going to feel it and they're going to remember it. So if you're worried about giving a speech, or you're worried about giving a meeting, or you're worried about giving a talk, or you're worried about a piece of content that you made, simply ask yourself, did I make this for me or did I make it for them? Did I make it for me to get celebrated or did I make it for them to get benefit? And if you make it for them to get benefit, it's always going to be received well. It's the number one tip you could ever get about public speaking.

[C]

That's awesome.

[B]

Yeah, that's.

[C]

That's what. I love it.

[B]

It's true. Try it. You know, there's a lot of you guys out there that run little meetings and do. Do speaking. Just try it, dude. I promise you it'll work.

[C]

Yeah, because, I mean, like, I've seen you speaking, and I don't think I've ever seen a speech or talk you've given that was, like, planned and rehearsed.

[B]

And I don't prep anything.

[C]

You just know I got to fix some.

[B]

The only thing I might know before I go up is I might have one or two stories I want to tell.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

And and those stories will help me guide the rest of the speech. But I don't ever plan a speech outside of just two. One or two stories I'm trying to tell.

[C]

Yeah, that's crazy.

[B]

Yeah. And I can give. And then if it's a tactical lesson, I mean, I can talk for eight hours without notes, but if it's like a speech, it's just what's the stories I want to tell? What's the intent? And yeah, I might not be the most eloquent. I might not have. No, I'm serious. Yeah, I might not have the best vocabulary of anybody. But because my intent is so real, people feel it and it's. It is real. That's why they feel it through the podcast, bro.

[C]

Yeah, this shit's contagious too, bro. I love it. Well, a little extra sauce to get started. Yeah, I got some good. I mean, I got. I do got some good ones for you.

[B]

Okay, well, I mean, we can just end there because, like, that's probably the best tip you're ever going to get.

[C]

Special sauce, Share the show.

[B]

Yeah. All right. See you guys.

[C]

Andy, question number one. Hey, Andy. I own a landscape business and in the off season we install Christmas lights. These are not your average Christmas lights bought from a big box store. We use professional grade products and hold a certification in installing these lights. My question is, other installers in our area are pricing the install so cheap it's hard to be competitive. This is a luxury service that isn't for everyone. But other companies are so cheap, I can't even cover my supplies for what they are charging. I refuse to lower my prices, and I feel like my work shows my worth. Do you have any recommendations? This is very frustrating to me as I take pride in my work. What's your thoughts on this?

[B]

Well, listen, first of all, you don't determine your worth. The market does. And just because you feel that you're worth more doesn't mean that you're actually worth more. It depends on what the market's willing to pay. Okay. I think my house is worth a hundred million dollars, but the market won't pay that.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Okay. So all day long I could say how much it's worth, but when I go to sell it, it ain't gonna sell for that. That's reality. So we could talk about how good we are, what job we do, but the reality is with the Internet today, all of our jobs, almost all of our jobs, are commodity jobs, meaning we can easily find someone else to do the exact same thing that you do. Probably for as much money or less. So what does that mean for you, selling a product that is superior? All right, what that means is. And by the way, I'm putting superior in quotes for you guys on the audio. We don't know if it's superior. How the do I know if your Christmas lights are superior to everybody else's lights? What is the difference to me? I go, I come home, it's got pretty lights all over it. I come home and I see your lights. Do they look prettier?

[C]

Right?

[B]

Okay, I'm not saying maybe they do, but you need to educate around that point, and that's the point I'm trying to make any product that you serve that is a superior product that you know is superior. It is on you to display how it's superior and why it's worth more money. And just because you say, well, I'm worth it, that's not a good enough reason. So what is it that makes your lights better? Why would I pay more for those lights? Okay, so you have to craft stories around that. You know, listen, everybody in the neighborhood's got these little twinkle, twinkle, little starlights. They get a Lowe's, bro. And everybody knows they look like you want to be the best in your. In your neighborhood, Right? I know you do. Look at the car you drive. Look how you keep your lawn. Look how you dress, bro. You are clearly someone who cares about appearances. These lights are going to look like this Here. Let me show you a picture of our lights versus their lights. And yeah, I understand it's a little bit more, but like I said, dude, you're not skimping over here. Over here, over here. You're someone that appreciates quality. See what I'm saying? So we develop a story and a pitch around why our is better. We educate on why it's better, and you're going to have less customers than the cheaper guy. Because most people, when they deal with good, better, best categories, the good has the most customers, the better has less customers than that, and the best has less customers than that. And that's the way it goes. So you're going to have a specific customer. You're not going to have as much customers as maybe the good guy, the guy who uses the shit from Lowe's. But if you could charge a premium to make up for the difference in the amount of customers, which is the math that you should be trying to figure out, you can figure out where you need to be priced at to make it worth your while. But ultimately, this comes down to you educating. And by the way, this goes for anybody who sells a quote unquote commodity product. Okay? If you sell car washing soap, you're going to have to explain the difference between using dawn in your bucket or using Turtle Wax 5000. Right. Like the one costs nothing, one costs 50 bucks a bottle. I'm making the up. You see what I'm saying though? We have to make a story, we have to display the value and we have to educate around why we would use this versus that. And just because you say, oh, well, I'm not lowering my price, well, that's fine, but you're missing the link that you need to show to the customer to get the sale.

[C]

Yeah, I want to ask you this because this is actually something I've always wondered and I feel like most people see this in action. Like on the consumer side of things. We see this right, where you know, the big box store is able to charge less for a product of similar quality. Right. Than, you know, the smaller mom and pop shops. Right. What is it like? What, what's happening there? Is that more of a relationship thing that, like, you know, that maybe that's something why they can charge cheaper because they have a better relationship with the suppliers.

[B]

Like, I mean, yeah, if the products are the same. I mean, if you buy in quantity, you're going to get a cheaper price.

[C]

Okay?

[B]

So you're always going to have a disadvantage against a bigger company. However, you can make that up with little bonus extras. You know, things that create the customer experience. You can always compete with a cheaper price if you make a great experience and over deliver on the value. All right, so if you're the little guy, you got to figure out how to make your Christmas light business something that people look forward to, to you coming every year. How, how will we make. Like, if you were sitting in front of me, I'd ask you and we would get on a whiteboard and figure this out. How do we make our Christmas light customers so excited that they look forward to you coming and doing their Christmas lights every year? Maybe it's a gift. Maybe it's something else you do. Maybe, maybe you take a professional photograph every year and have it framed for them at their house during Christmas time? Maybe you offer to take a family picture. Dude, there's all kinds of things and no limitations. If you just open the boundaries up of what you can do. And this goes back to what I said in the beginning of the show. If you open up your mind with the proper intent, you'll find solutions that will allow People to look forward to the experience, which will then help you grow your business. Because if you can create that kind of presence, what do you think they're telling their friends? And then all of a sudden, you're doing more business than the guy with the cheapest lights. You see what I'm saying?

[C]

Really kicking ass.

[B]

Yes. So, like, dude, you guys have to think outside the box, man. Everything we deal with nowadays is a commodity. It doesn't matter what you do, bro. If you do concrete, if you do retail sales, if you are a fucking marketer, whatever you do, there's a 50. There's 50 million other people that do it just as good. Protein powder. There's fucking millions of protein powders, okay? All of these things have to be educated around why they are better. And we have to figure out how can we make the experience good enough to where they spread the word for us. And that's what this game's about, dude. People are tired of automation. They're tired of, you know, not dealing with someone or getting an answering machine or getting treated like another number. So if you can humanize the process of giving people Christmas lights, which, by the way, should be pretty easy, because that's a very emotional time for people where they have a lot of nostalgia and a lot of care and emotion, and they want to. They want to, you know, create a good thing for their kids and memories. And this. This is. This is an easy thing to build a nicer experience off of because their emotions are already involved. Okay? So what can you do? And you have to think about that. What can I do? Some of you guys out there are going to hear that, and you're going to come up with all kinds of amazing ideas. And by the way, it's not just Christmas lights. It's any kind of service. Some of you are going to hear that and say, well, dude, you know, I don't know. And you're going to continue to get your ass kicked. I'm just telling you, if you listen to what I'm saying, you're going to do great. If you don't, you continue to lose. So what can you do extra that's low cost, that makes people say, holy, I'm never doing business with anybody else. That's the bottom line. What can you do? And you can do a lot, because nobody's willing to do anything anymore. Look at the restaurant service that we get now after Covid. Look at the customer service we get from everybody after Covid. I mean, you got Amazon running over people's mailboxes. And you know what I'm saying? Throwing. Throwing fucking shit on people's porch from 10ft away, right? That's the level of service that we're dealing with now. And if you can come up on the polar opposite of that, you're going to get the business 100 times out of 100.

[C]

Yeah. I love it, man. I love it, guys. Andy, question number two. Andy, what was. What was the most important thing you learned when you started scaling S2? I'm about to put my company in a new phase of growth, and I'm seeing that a few of my key people who I thought were my guys, they just can't handle the adjustment and new workload. Did you have this issue? And if so, how did you handle it? I love these guys, and I wouldn't be here without them.

[B]

Well, loving guys and them being effective is two different things. Okay? And I can appreciate because when you spend a lot of time with people, you develop friendships. And I understand all that. But the reality is, is we have to remember we're here to do a job. We're here to do a job at a high level. And if we don't do a job at a high level, there is no friendship because there is no money to pay anybody with. With. All right? So sometimes when you scale, there's going to be people that do not level up their own skill set, which will unfortunately find their way out of the program. When you have high standards and you want to grow, you have to have people that also have high standards and they have to want to grow. I can't walk in and download information into people's heads. I can't download discipline into people's heads. I can't download knowledge or skill set into people's heads. They have to go do that on their own. And if they're not hungry enough to do that on their own, as the system scales, they will naturally wash out and you will replace with people who do. This is a natural part of scaling a business. And unfortunately, it's very tough part, because if you're an ethical operator, bro, you do care about people. You care about people, you care about their fucking families. You care about everything. And that becomes very hard when you start to move up and the people aren't following along, because now you got to make hard decisions, and that's not cool. That's one of the worst things about being in charge or being a manager or being the CEO or whatever. And unfortunately, you have to, over time, sort of detach yourself from the emotional aspect of it and realize that that's their responsibility, not yours. And if people aren't willing to scale up and if people aren't willing to do the personal development on their end and they aren't willing to raise their standards on their end, then there's going to be a limit to how far they go with you. And that's just the reality. You know, Unfortunately, a lot of people think that once they're in a good situation, the good situation is guaranteed, and it's just not. So if you want to scale, just like when we've scaled, there's been people who have. Who have leveled up, and those people who have leveled up are still here and are making a ton of money. And then there's people who didn't level up and who went other places, which, by the way, is totally fine. It doesn't mean I don't like them. It doesn't mean I don't care about them still. It just means they couldn't operate and row the boat the way we needed it rowed. And we're going where the fuck we're going. Like there's no going to. There's not going to be any hostage holding in terms of where we're taking the business. And that should go for you too, you know, and what I mean by hostage holding is, you know, people who think that you're just going to fucking go at their pace instead of you go at your pace. So I would highly recommend that, too. I would recommend realizing that there's going to be people that you care about that don't swim as hard, that don't want to level up. And, you know, if you don't make the proper decision around those people, then you're going to hurt everybody else on the team. And that's how you figure out what the is is. What if you got a person who's not leveling up and the rest of the team is leveling up. Remember, you lose the respect of everybody else on the team by not doing something about it because you're costing them. So that makes it a little easier to make those moves. But, you know, at the end of the day, you set a standard. The standard has to be high. If you don't set a high standard, you'll lose, period. Because nobody's going to come and push you along down the path to grow the business. So the answer is very simple. Some people are going to go, some people aren't. Some people will surprise you. Some people will surprise you both ways. Some people will step up and just level Up. Some people you think will step up, won't step up, and you'll have to make decisions. And it's, It's. It was part of business, man.

[C]

Yeah. Let me ask you this, because with S2, if I. You went from the one store to like, six stores, right? And so that's new employees, new people you've never worked with.

[B]

That was in 2006. Yeah, we went from two to six.

[C]

Two to six stores right now. And you didn't, like, you didn't personally hire those employees? They kind of. They came in. Right. So let me ask you this. When it. When it comes to this scaling, because that was a big scale growth for you, how important is it to make sure that you have a good, like, foundation culture in place? Because, like, if this guy's scaling, he's about to get new people in, like, how important is it to set it then? Did you set it then?

[B]

No, I didn't. It's super important, but I didn't. Okay. And I only have two people that I inherited out of that. Out of that five stores that we took over. Because what happened was we had two stores. We purchased, quote, unquote, basically, we took over. Yeah, five failing stores. We closed one, then we had six, and then we started opening our own locations. So out of those, employees still got friends that were there. Like good friends that were there. That. Yeah. But they're off to other things, you know, and we have two guys who are still there from that day, and both of them are on major parts of first form. And, you know, it's. It's just part of the business. But ideally, if you could set a cultural standard before you have to scale, it's going to be that much easier to scale. Because if you can create a living, breathing culture inside of your company before you scale, then what happens is, is the people that you bring in while you're scaling will be monitored and coached by the existing employees, not just you. So what I mean by that is this. How many of you guys have joined a team or joined a company or joined an organization? You go in and the. The guy to your left or the guy to your right, not your manager, they're like, yeah, they're saying this, but that's not really how we do here. Okay? That's poor culture. All right? That will kill you.

[C]

It's toxic.

[B]

That will kill you. Okay? What you want is the opposite of that. What you want to create a situation where the person comes in, they the standard, and the person to the left or the right, like hey, bro, that's not how we do here because you're hurting me now. Okay? Now think how much it easier it is to scale a company when you have the second kind of culture versus the first. And that comes from you setting it up intentionally from the beginning or right now where you are. I did not do that because I was not informed about how to intentionally create culture. It took me many years past that to figure it out. It took me five more years past what you're asking, asking to figure that out. So if you can do that, it's best that you do it now. If you, if you can't do it, if you haven't done it yet, you should still do it. Now. That involves setting core values, that involves communicating core values. That involves having a literal mission statement, a big vision, the how we're going to get there. This is what we teach in our syndicate. Okay, so like this is, we could do a two week long podcast on all this, but at the end of the day, you have to establish culture before you scale. If you want your, your company to be strong and manageable. If you, if you try to scale without culture, I'm not saying you can't succeed, but the customer experience is going to suffer. You might be able to hold it together for a while. You're going to constantly be dealing with employee issues and if you do it right, the employees will wash out the other employees on their own. So you won't deal with except good things. So, you know, that's my take on that. If I would have known to do that in 2006, probably more of those people would still be here. I didn't figure it out till 2011 and we have a number of people who are still here from 2011. So it's a huge deal in terms of longevity, it's a huge deal in terms of commitment, it's a huge deal in terms of stability. And you know, it's a huge deal in terms of how you feel about other people. Because there's a number of people who have been here since that time that I'm very proud of who have built nice careers and built nice lives. And dude, that feels good. You know, I sleep good at night because of that. And that's why I come in here and I do any, any of the things I do now is because I want those people to continue to progress because it's one of the most rewarding things that you could experience. And I realize it comes down the road for a lot of you guys, but you know, it's it, it's. It's a lot more valuable than getting a cool car or fucking nice house, I can tell you that.

[C]

Yeah, I know you said like this definitely probably could be like a two week course or talk just on this. Can we dispel a quick myth though, about culture? Is there a number of employees required to have a culture set?

[B]

Oh, you do it with yourself. If you're the only person, you could do it with yourself. It's the standards you set for yourself and the standards you hold for yourself. It's about saying, I'm gonna, I'm gonna stand for this, this, this, this. I'm gonna do things, this fight this way. I'm not going to compromise on those things. And then when someone joins you, you're already living that. They adopt the culture. So it could start with just you, even if you're a single operator. But you have to live it. You have to be it, even if. And that's called integrity. What are you going to do when no one's watching? How are you going to operate when no one's watching? Are you going to operate to your standard? You're going to cut corners? I can tell you this, dude, I try very fucking hard to operate at my standard all the time, 24 hours a day, even when no one's watching. Especially when no one's watching. Because that's when you actually gain more of the discipline and strength that you need to uphold those standards so you can start it with just yourself. And in fact, I think every single fucking human should have a set of core values and a mission statement and a vision for their own lives. And most people don't. Most people just go along with the flow. They, they swing into someone else's vision and they stay there for a little bit and they swing into someone else's for a little bit and then they get to be older in life and they're like, why the fuck has nothing worked out for me? Well, the reason nothing's worked out for you is because you don't live what you say you're about. You don't have a plan for yourself. You don't have a mission statement for yourself. You don't think about the culture that you set for yourself. You don't, you don't. You try to cut the corners when no one's watching, bro, that you'll lose that way. That's just it, you know? And a lot of people in this world think that you can somehow, you know what? Real talk, I don't know what's wrong with people? I don't know what's wrong with people. You know, sometimes I think because I've had like two near, real near death experiences where I thought I was for sure gonna die, it's installed some sort of insane, like, driving me because I'll be real, dude. I don't see it from a lot of people. I see a lot of people, either they don't believe in themselves or they don't believe they can be great, so they don't try. Or, you know, they think they got all the time in the world and they think shit's just gonna work out. And like, dude, I know for a fact that's not the case. And it's very frustrating. Dude, it's. It's like, like, dude, imagine if you saw someone that you care about and you saw them standing in the road and 18 Wheeler was coming, and no matter how much you yelled at them, no matter how much you scream, they couldn't hear you. That's what it's like for me with other people. That's why I get so frustrated. That's why the Internet sees me. And they're like, what's. What's going on with this guy? Why is he so angry? I'm angry because you guys don't understand what you're actually capable of. And you're the guy standing in the road and I'm the guy screaming at you and you're not hearing what I'm saying. And then they'll say, well, everybody wants different things. Yeah, everybody does want different things. Now, when you're young and you don't have to worry about real, but I'm going to tell you, when you're older, you're going to feel differently. And that's real. And there's a lot of people that I. That I've grown up with who have had that attitude of, oh, well, it'll all work out. And you know what? Now they're struggling. Now they're having to do a bunch of they don't want to do. So when I come on here and I talk to you guys and I get intense and I, you know, I'm the way I am. It's because I know what the road's like, and I don't want you to get run over by it.

[C]

I love it, man. Guys, Andy, let's get to our third and final question. Got a young gun here. All right. He's 20 years old. Hey. So I'm 20 years old, and I've been hustling hard for almost a Year and a half. I finished 75 hard this spring and it really benefited my life. So thank you kindly for creating it. Recently I've been working almost non stop and as could be expected, I am lucky if I get six hours of sleep in a night. One night I was heading home late after a networking event and fell asleep behind the wheel. I told him my vehicle and thankfully nobody was seriously injured or killed. I am now stuck in a paradox where I both need more money and also need to dial things back a bit. I have seen other people's lives completely derail after this type of situation because they stop caring about making progress. What are your suggestions to ensure that I stay on track as I continue to make progress?

[B]

Well, I wouldn't work yourself into exhaustion where you're going to wreck your car. I hope you learned a lesson there. Look, dude, there's gonna be four or five times in your life where is really bad where you. You feel like you don't have options, okay? There's going to be times where you feel like no matter what you do, you're gonna lose. I don't know how I'm gonna get out of this. And that is when people quit. All right? And you have to become one of the people that realizes very simply that when other people quit and you keep going, you're getting a bigger advantage. Okay? If you all start at the same level and you get to level 10 and half the people quit now, you're competing with half as many people. If you get to level 20 and half of those people quit now, you're only competing with a quarter of the people that you started with. And that goes on and on and on and on and on. And that's the game. The game is longevity. The game is endurance. The game is consistent progression regardless of what's going on. So while I don't have an exact answer of what you need to do, you got to get your shit back together and you got to keep moving because this is one of those key moments when everybody else will quit and you will continue to move forward and that creates success, okay? So if I were you, I would work through this and I would look at it as a time as a major test that you pass, okay? And that's going to give you a bunch of other things too, besides just an advantage. You know, people will say, oh, I'm not competing with anybody. No, you are. There's lots of other people out there that are doing the same you're doing. And there's a limited amount of places for the fucking winner. That's it. That is reality, okay? But when you go through a test like this and not only do you gain a perspective of, you know, what it takes to win, and not only do other people quit and you get a real advantage, but you gain the confidence and you gain the belief and you gain the self esteem and the know that when bad things happen, you can push through them. All right? So the next time one of these bad things happen where all the storms come together at once and create this shitty situation, you can look back and say, well, I got through that, I got through this, I got through that, that one time. I'll get through this too, okay? And that becomes a habit. So if we had a guy on the show a couple weeks ago about he wanted to quit his football team, remember that?

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Okay? That guy, if he doesn't quit, he will have another situation just like that where he doesn't feel like it's fair, it's not going well. And if he works through that, he'll gain more confidence, he'll gain more belief, he'll gain more momentum. And the more you go through those, the more likely you are to win by the numbers, okay? And the more confident you're going to be because of what you already know that you over overcame. All right? So we have to understand that what we overcome not only allows us a higher likelihood that we're going to win, but it also teaches us that we can go through the hard things, which is where most people quit. So the more you go through and don't quit, the more likely you are to win in a very real way. All right? So whatever you got to do to get through this, you get through it, you know, and by the way, uh, don't believe all these people online to tell you don't have to sleep. That's bullshit. Okay? And that might have got you in this problem in the first place. I think there's a lot of lies on the Internet about how much you gotta sleep and, you know, you gotta work 40 hours and 24 hours. It's impossible. All right?

[C]

It's not safe.

[B]

No, no, it's not safe. It's not good for you. It's not real. It's, it's, it's people who are lying. That's it. It's people who are lying so that you will glorify them and be like, oh my God, look how great they are. And by the way, look how shitty I am. I can't work, you know, I can't get by on two Hours of sleep. Well, bro, neither do they.

[C]

They're sleeping for eight. Just so you know, bro, half these.

[B]

Motherfuckers wake the up, act like they're doing something, and go back to sleep.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

You know what I'm saying? So half of them are on drugs. Like, you don't know what the fuck people are doing. Stop listening to these goofballs.

[C]

Yeah. One thing I want to add on this, too, or bring in, man, is like, you know, like, you're 20 and you think you're having a hard time, Just wait till you're 21. Wait till you're 25. Like bad. The bad things are always going to happen.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

It's how you choose to look at them.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Right. Can we. I mean, just. Just like. I feel like there's a false expectation, bro.

[B]

You know, people don't get that. Like, they see even, like, you see someone who's successful, and like, okay, I just use myself, Okay? A lot of people from the outside, they look and they say, holy shit, look at all that, bro. You don't have any fucking idea what I've gone through, bro. I got stabbed in the face. I had fucking girls tell me I was bullshit. I had friends make fun of me. I had fucking, you know, car accidents, fucking almost being broke, literally more than the times that I made money. The amount of stress, the amount of turmoil I had, stores broken into, I had. I mean, bro, you could go on and on and on. I could. I don't even know how far I could go with that. You know what I mean? But every time you go through one of these hard things, you get better, you get stronger, and it provides a situation for you to learn from and become mentally tougher. And the more mentally tough that you become and the less that they are, how can they beat you? How can. Let me ask you this. How can you beat someone who cannot quit? How can you beat someone who every time they go through a hard time, they get better and they get stronger instead of getting weaker and getting demoralized? How can you beat someone who looks back on all the tests that they've had and said, yeah, that wasn't. Dude, bring it the on. Okay? As opposed to the person who's like, oh, my God, I can't believe this happened. And then two months, another thing happens. Oh, my God, I can't believe this happened. It's going to be the person who has a stoic mentality who looks at it and says this, okay, all right, we'll get through it. And then the next Thing happens. Well, won't do that again, but we'll get through it, right? Not freaking the out like the world's ending every two weeks, dude. You can't live like that. And that's why I tell people, you know, most people aren't built for entrepreneurship because they make way bigger deals out of things that shouldn't be. They. They can't handle the ups and downs. They can't emotionally take it. They can't live with what ifs and unknowns. Right? And your. Your success is going to be in direct proportion to the amount of uncertainty that you're able to live with. All right? So if you're not able to live with uncertainty and you're not able to tolerate the ebbs and flows and you can't figure out how to get better, you can't do it, dude. It's impossible because it's such a hard road, like the road to building something real. I'm not talking about some Internet funnel that you sell, some widget. I'm talking about building a real company. Talking about building something that's sustainable. Talking about building something that has actual valuable equity on the back end that you can retire on or you can sell or you can take care of your family with. That's hard. And there's a reason why most people can't do it, and it's because they don't have the emotional resiliency to deal with it. So if you're going to become one of these people, I would suggest that you invest a significant amount of time of mentally toughening yourself up intentionally so that you can deal with the inevitable ebbs and flows that are going to happen, the inevitable hard times, because they're going to come. And it's. It's not like, it's not a surprise, like, for someone like me, when hard times come. It's not a surprise. Like, I just understand it's part of the recipe. Just like you would understand that putting chocolate chips is required into a chocolate chip cookie recipe. Struggle and hardship and bad times and tests, those are all part of the journey. So you can't be surprised when you. When you get to them. I mean, if you're going to take a trip from here to, you know, California, you're going to realize that you're probably going to have to go up some hills and then down some hills, and there's probably going to be some flat times, probably going to hit some rainstorms, maybe some snowstorms. But if every time the hill went up or every time the hill went down or every time you hit some rain, you turned around and went back home. How the you get to California? You see what I'm saying? So you have to be someone who can tolerate these natural ebbs and flows emotionally and in reality, if you're going to build anything. So. So it's more about building yourself into someone who could tolerate it than it is like finding a path without those obstacles.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

You see what I'm saying?

[C]

I love it. Making chocolate chip cookies.

[B]

It calls for chocolate chips.

[C]

I didn't know this.

[B]

That's what I'm saying, huh? Like. Like, bro, it's obvious, dude. And we have to understand. Hard things have a hard path. Easy things have an easier path. Hard things are more valuable than easy things. So if you want a. A better life, you're gonna have to build yourself into someone who can deal with the hard path. And if you can't, you won't make it. And that's that.

[C]

Love it, man. I love it. Guys. Andy, let's get our Monday started, man.

[B]

All right, guys, we'll see you tomorrow, cti. Yeah.

[A]

Went from sleeping on the floor now my jury box froze up. Bo Stove counted millions in a cold, bad booted swole Got her own bank row can't fold Just a no headshot case Close.