On today’s episode, Andy answers live call-in questions on creating accountability as a young leader, bouncing back after a major setback, and finding the right team members for your mission.
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DJ
Yeah, we're from sleeping on the floor.
Andy Purcell
Now my jury box froze up Pole stove counted millions in a cold bad booty swole Got her own bank roll.
DJ
Can'T fold just a no head shot case close.
Andy Purcell
What is up, guys? It's Andy Purcell, and this is the show for the realists. Say goodbye to the lies, the fakeness and delusions of modern society, and welcome to reality, guys. Today we have Q and A F. That's where you submit the questions and we give you the answers. Now, you can submit your questions to be answered on the show a few different ways. The first way is, guys, email these.
DJ
Questions into askandyandyforcella.com or you go on.
Andy Purcell
YouTube on the Q and A F episodes and click that link right underneath the in the bio there, and you can be on the show yourself. You call right in and talk to us. We'll answer all your problems. Well, we'll try to answer all your problems. Some of y' all really fucked your shit up. All right? We also have Real Talk throughout the week. That's where we give you five, 20 minutes of real talk. We'll have CTI tomorrow. That stands for Cruise the Internet. We have a new live chat option on the CTI so you can actually listen in. As we cut the show, DJ will have more information on how to be a part of that. And then we have 75 hard verses. 75 hard verses where people who have completed the 75 hard program come on the show. They talk about how their life was before 75 hard, how their life is now, and how they use that program to transform their existence. If you're unfamiliar with 75 hard, it is the initial phase of the live hard program. The live hard program is the world's most popular mental transformation program ever, and it is free at episode 2. 08. Again, that's 2:08 on the audio feed. You can also buy the book. It's called the Book on Mental Toughness. It's available at andyforcella.com It'll give you the entire Live Hard program, plus a whole bunch of other chapters on mental toughness, how to cultivate it, how to use it to become the best version of yourself. All right? Also, we have this little deal we make with you guys. It's very simple. We ask that you please help us grow the show. All right? We put a lot of work, a lot of effort into this show, and we just ask very simply that you help us share it around. If it makes you think, if it makes you laugh, if it gives you A new perspective. If you think it's worth hearing, if it helped you in any way, do us a favor and don't be a hoe.
DJ
Share the show.
Andy Purcell
Yeah.
DJ
Yeah. And, guys, if you are interested in being a part of the show, you guys can click the link in the description below as well. You guys can fill out that little thing. We're keeping it exclusive, though. We're not. We're not. You know, we're testing small, small groups.
Andy Purcell
We're testing.
DJ
You might have a chance.
Andy Purcell
The goal is to eventually move into a live broadcast.
Wes
Mm.
Andy Purcell
All right, so we're testing that over the next 30 days or so. But you guys should definitely jump in because we will bring people on to CTI to talk about the topics with us. Yeah, you know, kind of like a all American town hall.
DJ
That's right.
Andy Purcell
All the time.
DJ
It's live audience, but that's what you.
Andy Purcell
Think, not what these dumbasses think. That's right, because we're smarter than everybody.
DJ
Undeniable.
Andy Purcell
Yes. Better looking, too.
DJ
That's right. And you guys can, you know, see my reading displays on full effect.
Andy Purcell
Yeah.
DJ
Uncut.
Andy Purcell
Uncircumcised.
DJ
Uncircumcised. Yeah, man. What's going on with you, though, man? You good?
Andy Purcell
Yeah.
DJ
Always get him to check in.
Andy Purcell
Yeah, man. I got like a dry needling done all across my traps and neck. I was getting these cramps done in my neck real bad, so I had Taylor hit me with the dry needles. Yeah, I feel like I got beat with a baseball bat, bro. Yeah, I forgot. I haven't had that done since I had my shoulder rehab. And I forgot, like, how that stuff makes you pretty sore.
DJ
I like Taylor's mean, bro. She gets in there. I mean, sweetest girl ever.
Andy Purcell
I don't think she's mean. I think she's just. She will beat your best at what she does. Listen, I've worked with a lot of people, dude. A lot of PTs, a lot of. If you. If you don't. If you need PT here in St. Louis and you don't consider Taylor Summers, you're not going to get as good service. It's the truth.
DJ
It's absolutely.
Andy Purcell
I mean, I've been an athlete my whole life. I've had a hundred fucking different people work on me, bro. She knows what the fuck she's doing.
DJ
Yeah, no doubt about that, man. No doubt about that, man. But, yeah, it's Q and A. So you guys know how this works. We got some calls, got some write ins, and let's make some people better Today. Yeah, I got some good ones for you.
Andy Purcell
All right, I bet you do.
DJ
Let's. We're gonna start off with a call. Let's get Wes. Wes, Wes on the phone. Let's give Wes a call.
Andy Purcell
Hello?
DJ
Wes. What's going on, my man?
Vince
Hey, what's going on?
DJ
What's going on with you, brother? Where you, where you at right now?
Vince
I'm in Arizona.
DJ
Ooh. All right. Arizona's not bad. AZ.
Vince
Yes, not too bad. Northern Arizona. It's my 28th birthday today too.
DJ
Oh, dude, look at that, man. Happy birthday. You want us to like sing happy birthday to you or something?
Andy Purcell
Happy birthday to Wes. What's up, bro?
Wes
Dude, how you doing?
Andy Purcell
We're doing good, man. 28, huh?
Vince
28. Yeah, 28 big 28. It's awesome. I'm so excited to get this call on my birthday too.
Andy Purcell
Hey, DJs going to give you the happy ending too. You know what I'm saying? All right.
DJ
All right.
Andy Purcell
For your birthday. He just volunteered it. Sign language it too.
DJ
Yeah. I got you, bro. I got you. All right. What's going on, man? What's your question? How can, how can we, how can you get helped today?
Vince
Let's see. So I'll give you a little bit of background. I recently became a team leader. Last November, I worked for a well known grocery retail store. We've been doing great. You know, we've been hitting KPIs.
Andy Purcell
You guys carry form energy.
Wes
Yeah.
DJ
Mosai was about to be a problem there.
Vince
Russ, an opportunity I've really had is with accountability with team members. You know, it's just been, it's been kind of a struggle with certain team members. Some team members do really great. I feel like we have a really good team. It's just opportunities as a team leader. Definitely being a new team leader, having those conversations. I tried, tried some positive reinforcement. But some, some team members are just really hard headed. Me being 28, a lot of my team members are older, in their 40s and 50s. I've had one team team member tell me like, you know what? I have a personal problem with taking direction from younger guys. I'm like, dude, honestly, that's a personal problem. I'm doing my best I can as your team leader to work together as a team and get us to this common goal. But that's just a big opportunity I've had is just how to hold team members accountable and guide the team in the direction that I want us to go.
Andy Purcell
Cool. Yeah, bro. First of all, leadership of people is the hardest job on the planet management, leadership, these things are difficult and, and to become effective at these things is a lifelong journey. So you shouldn't be down on yourself that it's a struggle. Your first time doing it, it's, it's, it's very hard. Okay, let's see, where do I want to start this? Because I got a lot to say here. I can very much so relate to the older people not wanting to take you seriously and not wanting to listen. You know, I started my business when I was 19 and by the time, you know, I was 25, I was leading people that were in their 30s, mid, late 30s that didn't, you know, want to take me seriously because they were 10 years older than me. And unfortunately, that is the mentality of lower skill people. Sometimes they believe that there's some sort of seniority based around other things besides skill set. They think that if they've been there a long time that they get some sort of preference or they think that because they're older they know more. And these things just simply aren't the ways of the world. So I wouldn't pay any mind to that, bro. And if you have the ability to start to work people like that out, you will do better and move faster with younger people for a couple reasons. One, they'll listen to you better. Two, they're probably hungry. Three, they haven't grown to accept the reality of their life. Meaning a lot of these guys that you're probably dealing with are in a situation where they think, man, this is as good as it's going to be. So I don't really give a fuck. I'm not going to listen to west tell me what I can and can't do. I'm just going to do my shit and be left alone. And so getting rid of those people over the course of time is important if you want to develop an effective team. Because those people create cancer in the, in the group. They will undermine you, they will talk shit about you when you walk away. They will tell the other team members not to listen to you and that you don't know what you're talking about. And that stuff will kill your ability to create a, an effective offensive front with your team. And so I would start making a list of the people that you think can be saved and the people you know cannot be saved and start working to replace those people moving forward. Now, with all that being said, let's focus on how do I get the team to execute with a positive attitude. Me being an inexperienced leader, having these conversations, we'll start with the group and then I'll get to the conversations. Okay. With the group. This is going to require you to sit down with the group, paint a detailed vision of not just what you're trying to accomplish, but what will happen if you accomplishment and what that means to them in their career path. So at the end of the day, most people are pretty selfish, which is fine. But you have to understand as a leader how to utilize their selfishness. And I only want to say it's selfishness. I just think it's human nature. Right? We have to look after ourselves. So you have to be effective at leveraging that want and need for them to the team's benefit. And the way that you do that is by understanding that they are only going to work at their best when they are inspired by to be their best, not motivated to be their best, not commanded to be their best, inspired to be their best. And the difference being is that when they are inspired to be their best, that is coming from themselves. That is their own idea. That is their own conclusion. I want to do great because it will lead to this. And your job as a leader is to create the path to and make the path understood. Not just once, but consistently. Okay. And that would sound something like this. Hey, guys, look, I know that you think this is just another grocery job, but here's the thing. It's not. Here's what we're trying to do long term. Here's what we have to do now. And if we do this now, here's where it will lead to you potentially upgrading your life if we win together as a team. And so that needs to be a fundamental foundation of the communication that you have between you and your team on a consistent basis. When you meet with them every single time, that should be communicated in one way or another. All right? And then, you know, you mix in the other issues that need to be addressed into that talk. But everything should be always connected back to what we're trying to accomplish as a team and what that's going to mean for them. And if you do that, you'll have enough of the team. Like you already said, I've got some great people. Those people will get super excited. And when those people get super excited, just like the negative people are a cancer, the positive people will spread goodwill and inspiration throughout your team. And then, you know, it's important that you do the first part I said by cutting out the bad people eventually. So that is the gist of how you can lead a team attitude wise. Now, dude, this could be a whole day. I could sit with you for a whole week and go through the nuances of this. But I'm giving you what I think is the Cliff Notes that we can answer within the timeframe of this show. Now, having those conversations, and by the way, you're welcome to ask any follow up questions after this. At having the conversations is usually difficult because we frame it as difficult. Okay? We as a leader will say, man, I gotta go, you know, get on to DJ because DJs not doing his job. And you need to reframe that in your mind. I'm not going to get on to DJ because DJ is not doing his job. I'm going to point out to DJ that DJ is not doing his job and then I'm going to make him understand what that's going to do to his vision long term. Okay? So it's, it's not by force, it's by clarity. That's correct. So, and then that way, just like with the inspiration, the ability to correct the path comes from inside, the onus is on them. Yeah, bro. Because people respond best to their own ideas. Okay? So our job as leadership is to say, hey, if you do a great job, here's how you do a great job. If you do a great job, this is what the team will do. And if the team does this, this is what it'll mean to you. And then when they're off, you reverse engineer that back to, hey, this is what this is going to mean for you. It's going to mean that you don't have a fucking place here, bro. And you're going to go from thing to thing to thing and you're going to end up bitter like Tony over there, who's 55 years old and hates it here, right? So the conversation, that, that, that's the gist of the framework of the conversation. But the conversation, to make it easy, you have to remember that you're doing them a favor. You are doing them a favor by showing them where they're messing up and how they're going to improve. And a lot of people that lead assume that people don't want to get better. So when they talk to them, they're very abrasive about it. When in reality, most people do want to get better, they just don't know how to get better and they're not aware. So reframing the hard talk into a talk of, I actually really care about DJ and his family, dude. I don't want him to fucking lose. So, dj, come here, man. I need to talk to you, dude. Here's the deal. This sucks. This sucks, and this sucks. I appreciate all you do here, okay? This is amazing. You do great here. You do great here. You do great here. But if you can't clean up these things, dude, we're not going to be able to win as a team. And if we can't win as a team, all the things that you're trying to do within this organization will not happen. They're not going to happen. And look at Tony over there. He's 55 years old. It didn't just happen for him. You have to make it happen. So having a conversation that's framed, you know, you've probably heard of, like the positivity sandwich, you know, where you tell them what they did good, then you tell them what they suck at and how to fix it, and then you close the meeting with what they did good again. And that generally works pretty good for getting people to hear the information. You know, everybody likes to be reminded and valued for the things that they do good. But, you know, you have to be able to critique them and coach them. And I think a lot of people that struggle with leadership and management, the reason they struggle with it so hard is because they're not realizing that our job as leaders is to develop the people and serve our people, not just to get our goal. Like our team won, you know, 15 games, that's. That's okay, you know, but if your motivation is just for yourself to win the 15 games and you're not pouring into players, players aren't going to want to work for you. They're not going to want to sweat for you. They're not going to want to fight for you. And so it's this. It's this very synergistic reality. You know, if you care about them and you help them and you're honest with them, they will reciprocate that with giving their best. And that's how great teams work. You know, the hardest coaches that I've ever had in my life were actually the ones I'm most thankful for. I hated him at the time, but when I look back on my life, I'm like, fuck, I'm glad that guy was straight with me because it helped me straighten out a lot faster. No, so he learned, too.
DJ
They cared the most.
Andy Purcell
That's right. And, dude, as a leader, even if it's. If it's of a team, a sports team, a charity organization, whatever, in business, it's all the same. It's all the same so yeah, bro, look, just start reframing these conversations as you're actually helping them and you're helping their family and that will help you want to have them more. But that whole, I mean, I just unloaded a lot of shit. But this whole thing that we're talking about here is an art and it's something that you're not going to master at 28 years old. It's. You will never master it. I will never master it. Okay, we will, we will be 70 years old and we will say, fuck, I still have so much to learn about being a leader. And that's, that's the reality of leading people. But the framework is usually the same. So big mission, what their role is in the mission, what it means for them. If you win the mission of the team and then, you know, having the conversations with the, the mindset that you're improving their skill set, improving their future, improving their family, which takes away the edge of confrontation and replaces it with an obligation to tell them the truth. And then when you execute the conversation, positive critique. Positive. And you know, if it's a hard critique, you might have to come back an hour later or the next day and say, hey, you know, you know why I fucking. I'm telling you this, bro. I'm telling you this because I want you to fucking win. And dude, you know, that's, that's it. That's as about as quickly as I can explain something that will help you immediately. So what do you think?
Vince
That was absolutely great. Something I'm definitely going to be doing. I'm starting, I've been starting to implement more huddles with my team. Just make sure we're all on the same page, have the same goal. Yeah, you definitely, definitely. That's definitely something I'll be doing more going forward. I really appreciate that.
Andy Purcell
How often do you meet with them?
Vince
So I do a lot more one on ones.
Andy Purcell
Okay.
Vince
With my team members. I think a lot gets m missed when I don't do huddles as well too. We have a lot of small things here and there where we have walks going on safety briefings. We need to do a lot of. It's kind of one on one and I'll do those. Check ins with one on one. Be like, hey, how you doing today? This is what, this is what our plan is going to be for today.
Andy Purcell
But that's good, that's good, that's good. But here's when you got, you have to collectively get them together if you want them to function as a team.
Vince
Yeah, okay.
Andy Purcell
Right. Like, you got to paint the pic. Look, dude, people will execute at like a level fucking six for themselves, but they'll execute a level 50 for the person next to them. Okay. So if you build a cohesive team where everybody cares about the person to the left and the person to the right like they should, the execution level and the standard level will rise. So I would definitely encourage you to do more full team breakdowns. You call them huddles. That's. That's. Yeah, yeah, I would definitely be doing that.
Vince
Awesome. Will do.
Andy Purcell
Anything else?
Wes
No, that'll be.
Vince
That's kind of really it now. Yeah, it was a stressful week for sure. I had two big back to back walks. But you know what?
Wes
They went.
Vince
They went super, super good. So I'm super proud of that. I think my team is doing a great job. That's kind of the only real opportunity I see for myself at the moment. It's just the accountability part and having those tough conversations. And like you said, I'm not going to learn it definitely being a new team leader right away, but down the line, I'll definitely get it.
Andy Purcell
Yeah, bro. You listen. If you keep their interest at the top of your mind, if you. If you always operate as a servant leader, meaning I'm going to help improve my team's career path. I'm going to help develop my people to be more successful. It's really kind of hard to up leadership. It really is. If you're living the standard and you're doing your job and then they know that you're working to help them get better, it kind of works itself out, bro. But it's got to be real. They'll know if you're foolish.
DJ
See it?
Andy Purcell
Yeah.
DJ
Can't just hear it. No, that's real, man.
Vince
Yeah, it's real. So, yeah.
Andy Purcell
Don't get down on yourself, dude. This is brand new and it's really hard. I would say out of all the aspects of things that you could do as a human being, the most mentally tax taxing and hardest job that you will do. It's not, you know, it's not physically demanding, but it is very mentally stressful is leading other people. And it's really hard when you care about them, bro. It's really hard.
Vince
Yeah.
Andy Purcell
So, yeah.
DJ
Sick, man. Well, we appreciate you, bro. Thanks for calling in, Wes.
Wes
Yeah.
Andy Purcell
Hey, bro. Happy birthday, man.
DJ
Yeah, happy birthday.
Vince
Awesome. Thank you, guys.
Andy Purcell
All right. Thanks, brother.
DJ
I'll hit you up a little later for that, the happy ending. All right, See you, bro.
Vince
All right, thank you.
Andy Purcell
Guys, thanks, bro.
DJ
Yeah, dude. Now that's a tough thing. Like, I had to get over that too. Just in my mental, like, you know, with me leading my group that I lead, right. It's like, bro, I've been working on that for fucking six years. I still like heavily criticize myself if I'm doing a good job as a quote unquote leader.
Andy Purcell
You should. Best leaders do that.
DJ
But it takes. It takes a long time.
Andy Purcell
The best leaders audit themselves after every conversation they have with their team, after every meeting, after every bro. Every time I give a talk, I walk off the stage. What do I say?
DJ
How'd I do? What do you think?
Andy Purcell
What do you think?
DJ
Yeah, yeah.
Andy Purcell
Oh, you crushed it. What do I say? I said, I could have done this, I could have done that. I could have done this. I already know where I up when I walked off, when I. When I walk out of a meeting, you know? So the best leaders, the ones that continue to develop are ones that audit themselves and understand that when it comes to leadership, there is no finish line. You're not going to like, there's always room to grow.
DJ
Yeah.
Andy Purcell
You know what I mean?
DJ
Yeah, yeah, that's real, man.
Andy Purcell
It's a balance. Like you have. You can't be a bro. You can't just sit there and be like. Like you have to have that ability to say, this is what the fuck we're doing. Okay. Like, I don't want this to sound very soft. This isn't soft. This is. This is what the fuck we're doing. This is what the team's going to do and this is what you need to do to be a part of the team and to progress here. But this is happening. Yeah, right.
DJ
Like this is the line.
Andy Purcell
Yes. And it can't be like a convincing thing like, oh, well, you know, can you guys just do this for me? That won't work.
DJ
If you guys want to do it.
Andy Purcell
It has to be conf. Leadership and coaching that happens. And the standard of where you're going is non negotiable.
DJ
Oh, I love that, man. I love it. Guys, Andy, let's get question number two going. We got a write in on this one, guys. Andy, question number two. Hi, Andy. Andy. I lost my dog one month ago. I know where your thoughts may have gone. Time to move on and stop being a no. 1 more than. I want that more. But I'm stuck. I have no kids. My dogs were a big part of my life. This last dog had a stroke and it's just gone. We had no warning not that life always gives you that, but anyway, I'm lost. Every morning I get up saying that I'm gonna get out and get my workout in. Every morning I sit like a sad sack of shit. And my sadness and grief. I know grief is a motherfucker and we all process it differently. I just don't feel like I am. As the day moves on from the morning, I get better. And by the end of the day, I have at least gotten in a five mile walk all day. I get pissed at myself for wasting my morning routine with this grief. I carry the anger and the sadness like a rucksack on my back. Then I listen to your podcast and your TED Talk post and social media and I feel like I'm really, I really am that sad sack of shit that I'm that dumb fuck that you talk about who wishes for shit. Not knowing. You can't wish, you must achieve. How do I move on from this? Dealing with Tough shit, man. Grief specifically?
Andy Purcell
Well, I mean, look, dude, it's a part of life. It's unavoidable. And whether it comes in the loss of a pet or a loved one or a diagnosis or like, you're gonna get hit, bro. And I think that's the, that's the thing that people live not saying this person, but a lot of people live in this ignorant state of, it's not going to happen to me, it's not going to happen to me and it does happen to you. And it's a fundamental reality of life. There are going to be unexpected, very difficult circumstances that you are going to have to deal with, which is why it's so important to develop mental fortitude and mental toughness inside of yourself. It's not something that people are born with, it's something they develop. And so when it comes specifically to going through very difficult times, the answer to getting through those times is often the opposite answer of what almost everybody else will tell you. Because what will everybody else tell you? They will tell you, hey, take it easy, man, you're going through a lot. Relax, process it. The reality of getting past very difficult things is to take action towards where you would like to be. And you've already said that you don't like feeling like a sad sack of shit. And you are a sad sack of shit right now. And guess what? I'm a sad sack of shit. Sometimes DJ is a sad sack of shit. Sometimes everybody is a. It's called being fucking human, bro.
DJ
Life.
Andy Purcell
There's nothing wrong with what you're going through. And to Be honest. I get it, bro. I had, I had my duck get killed last year. And everybody like, it's just a fucking duck. Well, yeah, to you. Not to me. Like, to me. I don't have kids. I go there every morning, I see the duck, I go there every night, I see the duck. The duck gets happy when it sees me. You know, she follows me around, she thinks like that. To me, that's a big deal. And so I was fucked up. And when my dog Oscar died in 2012, 2013, he died in my fucking arms. He was seven years old. It was a day before his eighth birthday, dude. I was playing guitar. I heard him breathing weird. I looked at him and I could tell he was scared shitless. And he got up and he ran and tried to crawl under the bed and hide, which is what dogs do when they're dying. They try to hide. I pick him up, I take him, he's dead 10 minutes later, bro. Like, everything was fine and then he was dead. And, bro, that. I've never gotten over that. I still think about that all the time still. He's still the screensaver on my phone. Okay? We all go through hard things, bro, but to get out of the hard cycle, we have to bite the bullet and start taking action. And this isn't some plug for live hard or 75 hard, but this is the time when you need that kind of thing. You need a mission, you need a purpose, you need something to accomplish and recalibrate you into someone who, who can make the decisions even when they don't feel like doing the thing. And that's the power of the program. Okay? We talk about the program not being a fitness program because it isn't. It is. You get fit as a result of the mental toughness that you have to develop along the way. And so, bro, real talk, I would start 75 hard and I would fucking do the program and I would do it perfectly. And it will be enough to force you where you cannot complete the program while you're sitting there feeling sorry. And you just have to accept the fact that, bro, you're not going to be the same after losing one of your dogs, bro. Like every time I was talking to my father in law about this a couple years ago and he was like, he's like, dude, it's got to be hard to have dogs, you know, because he's not a dog guy. Like, they have a dog, he lives out in the. You know, their dogs live outside and they're not like a farm dog. Yeah, they're not very warm. It's different than, like, what I grew up with about dogs. And he, we, he was, we were talking and he was like, he was like, you know, it's got to be hard to have dogs, man, because it's like they only last 10 years and it's like losing a kid every time. And I'm like, yeah, that's fucking exactly what people will say. Oh, it's not the same. It's not the same for you if you have kids. But if you don't have kids, you're. You're an for saying that.
DJ
Yeah, right.
Andy Purcell
You know, like these who do this every year who say, oh, you, it's Mother's Day. Being a dog mom doesn't count or being a dog, dad doesn't count. You know how up you sound saying that? Some people, that's all the. They have, they weren't able to have kids, okay? And that's all they got. And because you're a douchebag, you go on the Internet and say some up. Anyway, we know it's not the same, but it's the same for us, okay? So don't be a. Yeah, but at the end of the day, bro, you got to step the up and realize that if you continue down this path, you're going to. You are going to be a literal sack of. You have to get yourself past these hard things. And it is very real and very normal and very human to work through these things. And, you know, you got to take action, bro. You got to start doing things that, you know, take your mind off of it. You got to start doing things that force you to get up and move, otherwise you can't get them done. You know, one of the most powerful things about 75 hard and live hard is, is that there's so much to do. Like, if you lay in bed till one o' clock in the afternoon, bro, you ain't getting it done.
DJ
Yeah.
Andy Purcell
Okay? So by default, you have to move on. And you know, and then the other thing, I'll tell you, dude, like, the other thing, from one animal lover to another, like, I don't think people really realize how animals, how important they are to me, but when I lost Oscar, I didn't know what to do. And we ended up getting Otis, our bulldog. Now is the best thing I ever did was to get another one.
DJ
Yeah.
Andy Purcell
Yeah. And we got him like a month later. And it was the best thing I ever did, dude. Like, it's. It didn't make me feel any less about Oscar, but it made me like, feel good, you know what I'm saying?
DJ
Well, if it put your mind on something else now, you got this little.
Andy Purcell
Puppy, you got potty, he loves you too, you know? And like, it's, I would recommend getting another dog if, if, if that's where you're at, bro. So, yeah, it's hard, bro. It's. This is hard shit. And society doesn't make it any harder because they don't try to understand people that don't have kids. They're total about it.
DJ
I think there's something to be said too, just to your point of like, dude, it's life, things are gonna happen. Wouldn't you rather be able to have like come out of that?
Andy Purcell
Yeah, bro, that's exactly the point, okay? We're competing against billions of people on this planet and a lot of people will say, oh, there's not. You're not competing against anybody except your version of yourself yesterday. Well, those people are broke. Okay, here's the reality. If you want to win, if you want to become, create, build anything real, you have to learn how to operate through the hard times. The, that is the separator between people who win and people who fucking don't, ok? People who don't win, every time they get a hangnail, they say, oh, I need three days off in a, in a fucking year of therapy to get better. That's. Those people lose because anything that happens along the way throws them off track. Okay? If you could become the kind of person that it doesn't matter what gets thrown your way, no matter how hard it is, no matter how frustrating it is, no matter how pissed off you are or any of this shit, if you can operate and execute in those times, you are executing at at least double the rate of everybody else. And if you understand math like I'm sure you do, you will know that double the execution puts you twice as far ahead as everybody else. If everybody else runs two fucking laps and you're running four, who's going to get where they want to go faster? Okay? And the difference between this is being able to execute when you don't fucking feel like it. It makes you legitimately unbeatable. So it's very important that when things happen that are hard, which we all have to deal with, it's very important that you don't let it consume your life to the point where it throws you completely off track. Because that's what most people do and you're not trying to be most people. So this is a tremendous opportunity and as cold hearted as that may sound.
DJ
Yeah, because that's what people are going to call it.
Andy Purcell
I don't care. It's reality, bro. This isn't called be nice. This isn't called idealism. This is called real as. And the reality is, is when bad things happen, like they happen to all of us, most people get thrown off track. Very, very far off track, okay? And then to create the momentum again, it could take years, okay? So one fucking tragedy happens and then it costs you five years of your life. Is that really worth it for something that happens to literally everybody? It's not. Okay? So if you can become the kind of person that will execute no matter what's going on around them, you can't be fucking beat, bro. It's. It's literally impossible to beat a person like that. You can't beat them, okay? And what. Here's what happens when you start to learn that you can do this and you start to learn that you can execute versus the other people that can't. You know, like when you're out in the middle of, you know, the 18 inches of snow, when it's. When it's minus fucking 20 degrees and you're doing shit that no one else can do, it instills and builds a level of self belief and confidence in yourself that cannot be fucked with. It cannot be fucked with. It doesn't fucking matter what the world throws at you. You are still going to win. Imagine feeling like that. Imagine knowing no matter what the fuck happens, I'm going to still win. And that's the kind of confidence that pushing through the hard times creates.
DJ
That's some powerful shit right there, man. Yeah, absolutely, man. I love it. Let's get. We got one final question. We got another call in. Vince. Let's get our boy Vince on the phone. Okay, That's a good, strong name.
Andy Purcell
Vince.
DJ
Vince. Give Vince a call.
Wes
Hello, this is Vince.
DJ
Vince, what's up, dude? This is D.J.
Wes
What'S up, D.J?
Andy Purcell
Vince. What's up, bro? It's Andy.
Wes
What's up, Andy?
Andy Purcell
How are you, dude?
Wes
How are you guys? I'm good.
Andy Purcell
What you up to today?
Wes
I was working on fence and now I'm working on estimates.
Andy Purcell
All right, so I assume that you own a construction or fencing company.
Wes
I do. I'm a general contractor.
Andy Purcell
All right, cool, cool. How long you been doing that?
Wes
Four years by myself now.
Andy Purcell
Oh, that's awesome, bro. How old are you?
DJ
You sound young.
Wes
37.
Andy Purcell
Got a young voice. Hey, dudes, he is young. 37. Still young, bro.
DJ
That's true.
Andy Purcell
Listen, at 36. I was £350. Didn't know. Okay. I got. I mean, I did do the same thing since I was 19. I was doing okay, but I think I evolved. Yeah.
DJ
Some evolution there. Yeah. Yeah, for sure.
Andy Purcell
So what's up, bro? What can we help you with?
Wes
Oh, well, I am currently booked into next year and I'm building 580 linear feet of fence by myself right now because I can't get people to show up and wake up to their alarm clocks or whatever excuse they're going to have. And I'm trying to find a way to incentive, incentivize and find some good employees.
Andy Purcell
Well, did you have employees before?
Wes
What's that?
Andy Purcell
Have you had employees before?
Wes
I've had a couple. Longest one lasted about three months.
Andy Purcell
Okay, and what happened in that situation? Explain to me your general experience with employees thus far.
Wes
I've had a couple pretty decent ones that would show up and were pretty timely and pretty decent. But the last one, I asked him this. He was having a bad day already with his wife, and I knew that, but I asked him to, like, shovel three shovelfuls worth of dirt out of some holes, and he said he wasn't gonna do it and squared up. And I told him he needed to go home. So he quit. Quit over that? I wasn't trying to get him to quit or anything. I was just. If you're not going to listen to me and you're having troubles at home, you need to go take care of that. Yeah, the other guy just kind of ghosted me.
Andy Purcell
Okay.
Wes
After a while.
Andy Purcell
Where. Where do you live?
Wes
I live in Dewey, Arizona.
Andy Purcell
Is that a rural place or what is. I don't know where that is.
Wes
It's a little south of Prescott.
Andy Purcell
Yeah, I still don't know where the that is.
Wes
It's about an hour north of Phoenix.
DJ
Okay, there we go.
Andy Purcell
All right, so somewhat rural. Ish. Area. Area.
Wes
Yes.
Andy Purcell
Okay.
Vince
Yes.
Andy Purcell
All right. Well, how are you paying those people? Were you paying them? Fair.
Wes
I try to start my guys at 20 an hour.
Andy Purcell
Okay. And. And what do people get normally in that area for that kind of work?
Wes
Other posts that I've seen from other contractors, they're starting at about 18 to 20.
Andy Purcell
Okay.
Wes
And then.
Andy Purcell
Okay.
Wes
Lead guys are running about 30.
Andy Purcell
Okay.
Wes
And I've had a retired guy working for me. I was paying him 25 an hour. He was pretty good, but he's having some health issues, so.
Andy Purcell
Okay. How have you tried to recruit employees so far?
Wes
In all honesty, I haven't tried really hard. Too hard. Usually it's just like a Facebook post of basically what we're doing, jobs we do and the hourly start.
Andy Purcell
Okay. When you, when you have employees, are they expected to just show up, clock in, do the work, go home?
Wes
Pretty much, yeah. And then sometimes I'll even depending on where they live, I'll try to meet them to pick them up because some of my jobs are an hour away. So.
Andy Purcell
Okay.
Wes
I try to pick them up to take them there.
Andy Purcell
Okay. All right, here's the deal, bro. You're graduating from the calloused hand worker to actually operating a small company, which will likely move into a bigger company. Is that your goal? Is your goal to expand the company or is your goal to kind of just you do the work and have three or four dudes to help you with it?
Wes
That's kind of where I'm looking to be at. I, I do enjoy doing the work. I don't wanna, I'm not looking to get huge. I really like one on one with my customers and being there to do the work.
Andy Purcell
Okay.
Wes
So I was thinking that maybe three guys and then ultimately doing some more general contracting, subcontractor type work and maybe building some homes eventually.
Andy Purcell
Okay. All right, look, you any. All right. For you to get where you're trying to go from where you are, you are going to have to treat it as an aggressive building of a company. Okay? Here's what I mean by that. Business is ultra competitive. It's the most competitive thing in the world. It's more competitive than any sport, than any game, than anything. It's the most competitive thing. And when people say in fit. So I'm in the fitness industry, as you know, so people will say like this, they'll say, I want to start working out, but I don't want to look like, you know, Arnold Schwarzenegger or something like that. And it's like, bro, you could work out every motherfucking day, all fucking day for your entire life. You could take every steroid, you could take every supplement, and you'll never fucking look like that. Okay? And when business owners say, hey, I just kind of want to maintain where I'm at, that creates a very comfortable attitude amongst your company, which makes it very hard to build an effective team for what you're trying to get to. So what I'm saying here is that you have to go at this every single day as if you are trying to build the best construction company ever. And that's the effort that it's going to take for you to survive long term. That's Reality. So you have to flip your mindset from, I just want to do the work. You can do the work. You can have three guys. But the attitude of what you need to have cannot be, hey, I'm good where I'm at. And the reason is because you can't get anybody inspired to want to work for you with that attitude, for you to get where you're trying to go, where you're looking to have two or three guys, four guys, and then eventually maybe a dozen guys that want to build homes, all right? You're going to have to. To frame it and build it as a real company. And you're going through a process that is very critical to your future in this business. Let me explain to you what that is. You can either say to yourself right now, well, I'm good where I'm at. I just need a helper. All right? And you'll continue to have this situation happen over and over again, right? They're going to show up. They're going to get pissed off one day because their wife yelled at them, and they're going to say, I'll kick your ass if you make me move the dirt. And you're going to have to deal with this shit over and over again. You don't want to deal with that shit. So you have to say to the guys, you have to say, when you look to hire someone, you've got to be able to say to them, look, this is what I'm doing. This is what I have done. I've worked as a GC on my own for the last four years. My goal for this is to build a company that does this and this and this. We want to build homes. We're going to get there. I'm booked out all the way till next year with these kind of jobs. But once we get through this, we're going to start moving towards that. And you have to get. It's funny because I just answered a question right before this. It's very much similar to what you're asking. The point here is that you have to inspire these people to work on the big vision that you are creating for the company. All right? What's going to be the differentiator between someone who shows up for 20 bucks an hour and then eventually tells you to eat shit because they're having a bad day? And the person who values their position in your company is going to be what's on the line for them in the future. All right? So you are going to have to get really good. The first thing you're going to have to do is define what exactly do I want to do. And it can't be like this. You know, I think I'd like to have three dudes and, you know, I'd like to still do that. That's not a certain vision. People won't believe in that, okay? You've got to give them certainty. I've been doing this four years. I love doing this. This is what I love about it. This is what I'm going to do. And I'm looking to build this with people like you. But this is what's going to be expected. And that allows you to instead to say to them, hey, man, I need you to show up and dig some fucking holes. To say, hey, look, bro, if you don't dig those holes, we're never going to get where the fuck we want to go. You're never going to get to this place. Okay? So you are going through a transitionary period of leadership. You're leading yourself. You're able to get up every day. You're able to do the work. You're able to build the fences and build the decks and do the repairs and do the additions. But I want to do this at a bigger scale. And so, you know, this is less about you attracting people and more about you getting them committed to once they're there. I don't think it's going to be very hard to find people that want to be a part of a mission like this, especially with the emergence of AI and technology where, like, dude, a lot of the jobs are just drying up. So if you're able to say to a young man or a young woman, hey, you, come here. I'm going to teach you this. I'm going to teach you that. You're going to know how to do these things. You're going to have job security. We're going to build one of the greatest home builders in Arizona. And you know, that is something to believe in. Because remember, bro, there's a big difference between someone showing up for $20 an hour to dig holes and help you and someone who's showing up for $20 an hour to help you build the best company that's ever fucking existed. Okay? And you have to learn how to present that properly. So I need you to get clear on your vision. Very clear. No matter what it is. It doesn't have to be this huge vision either. It can be, hey, I want to be a small boutique custom home builder that builds amazing. And here's the opportunity for you in that Plan. If you help me do this and you're, you know, and you lay out the expectations of what that is, go ahead.
Wes
That's what I was thinking the other day is I kind of haven't been. I've just been looking at them as employees instead of, like, the way I look at my customers and trying to help my customers and build what they want and need and meet their. Or go above their expectations. I want to do that now for my employees and their families, brother, if I can do that for two or three of them and we can just crush it, I'd be happy with that. But, yeah, what you're saying. No, you're a hundred, brother.
Andy Purcell
You're hitting on the. You're hitting the nail on the head there, bro. How. How you care about your employees is how they will care about your customers, okay? If you care about them and their families. And by the way, that's not letting them have seven days off because they stubbed their toe. That's reminding them, hey, bro, we got this to do because we're building this, and that's what's going to help your fucking family. And it's basically becoming a coach, bro, for a bunch of young people. And there's. I think that the fact that you thought of that on your own shows me that you're on the right track anyway. And let me tell you something else, dude. And this is just. This is the truth from someone who's been doing something and become very financially successful. Personally, I fucking love seeing my people grow, develop, earn more money, succeed, have families. That is the coolest part of my entire existence. There's no question. And it's. If I think it's the most rewarding part of entrepreneurship that kind of gets left in the trash by most leaders. And so you sound like you're a pretty good dude, bro. Like, it sounds like you. You do care about people. And, you know, not ever talking to you before, I don't want to act like I know you and. But, like, you. You sound like a good dude. And I. I think you sound like the kind of person that would get a lot of fulfillment and satisfaction, not just about, you know, what you built, but how you built it and who you built it with. And. And, dude, like, that's just a framework shift from you saying, you know, I need you. Like I said, I need you to show up and move these boards to. I need to show up and move these boards so that we can build these. This amazing company. And there's a. There's a famous Analogy, and I can't remember what book was that I read, but I read it very early on and I cannot remember the analogy, but exactly. But the, basically the analogy was this. There's a big difference in a stone mason who has to build. And it's funny because you're building 5,000ft of fence. The, the analogy they use is there is a massive difference between a stonemason who is told that, that they have to build a five mile, three foot high wall, and the stonemason who's told we're going to build the most beautiful cathedral that's ever existed in human history. The person who is inspired by the bigger vision is going to do better work. They're going to care more, they're going to be more invested, you're going to like being around them more, they're going to value their career more, and they're probably not going to try to square up with you when you told them to do something real simple, you know what I'm saying? Because they value what we're building together. You know what I mean? So it's tough, bro. Leadership and where you're at in your business is the toughest part of business. When you're going from working and doing the work to work, you know, you're working in the business to then shifting to working on the business, meaning handling leads, handling your employees, handling all the shit that goes with it, Your marketing, all of this shit. That's a, that's a transition that, that is difficult for people. It was very difficult for me. I've never met someone who was like, oh yeah, that was so easy to do. It's just, you have to do it if you're going to go from where you are. Otherwise you're basically going to be doing what you do forever. So you have to look at it like this, dude. You know lawyers go to law school, right? That doesn't mean they know how to operate a business. This is why so many lawyers switch professions after they graduate law school. Because they don't know how to run a business. This is why so many doctors go broke trying to run businesses. They, they, they go out, they get their medical degree, they make a little money, they start opening these fucking restaurants or all this other shit they don't know about and they lose. And, and the reality of what you've done here, dude, is you've went to school for construction. You, I don't know if you actually went to school for it, but you did it in the real world. You know what you're an expert, all right? And you have to understand that your expertise now has to be trained and shifted in a different direction towards actually learning how to run a business. Running a business is its own skill set, aside from, you know, driving nails, you know what I'm saying? And if you look at it like that, you'll be much more successful. Like, my skill set is great over here at doing the actual labor, and I can build great staircases and I'm an artist with my fences. That doesn't mean shit when it comes to running a business. And so you have to start looking at that as a complete different skill set that you're. You're a brand new rookie at, because up until now, you haven't really been running a company, and now you have to. So I would start consuming everything that you can about how to do this and learning everything that you can about how to structure it. Getting around other construction guys who are. Who have done these things, you know, maybe talking to them, getting some mentorship for some guys who are where you want to be in your specific industry. These are all things that will help you a lot, brother. And dude, you know, I have no doubts that you're going to be able to do everything that you want to do here. It's just a. It's just a little flip of perspective switch that you need to make on where your role is.
Wes
Okay.
Andy Purcell
Yeah.
Wes
So, like, another kind of question I had is I want to. After I started thinking about more towards the employees and obviously the construction world, we end up pretty crippled when we're older. Is implementing, like, trying to pay or help pay for their supplements or like chiropractor adjustments once a month or massages, like every quarter and stuff to try to help with their health. Like, yeah, man, even boot gift certificates. How soon should I try to implement something like that? Should I do it right? Well, work into it.
Andy Purcell
It depends on what you can afford to do, bro. But here's what you can afford to do for free. And this is the most important thing that you can do. I would try to organize group activities that are difficult with you and the three or four other guys, like doing an outdoor workout or, you know, meeting up on a Saturday and trying to do a run, even if some of the dudes are fat, you know, like, the mutual suffering creates teamwork bonds. All right? And if you think of any great team that's ever existed, the reason that they're great is because they've all witnessed each other work, sweat, bleed and suffer and be bad at shit together. And that creates an unbreakable team bond. And it costs nothing. It's. It's one workout a month. You know, where you go out and you fucking. You get in the park or wherever it is that you guys do and you run sprints and then, you know, you do. You do some push ups and.
DJ
And instead of just sitting on a tailgate drinking some beer.
Andy Purcell
Yeah.
DJ
After.
Andy Purcell
That doesn't bond people the way that people think it does. That's a different kind of bond. Like there is a bond to that.
DJ
Yeah.
Andy Purcell
Right.
DJ
It's beneficial.
Andy Purcell
But a real, like, I'm gonna pick this motherfucker up if he's on the ground. That comes from mutual suffering. And so I like all those ideas you have. I think that's great. I think that would help for sure. But I don't think that's going to replace. I'm not saying anything. I know it won't replace the work that it's going to take to bond people, which you can do for fucking free, bro. So I think those are good ideas though, for sure.
Wes
Okay. Appreciate it.
DJ
Love it.
Andy Purcell
Yeah, brother.
DJ
Well, Vince, appreciate you calling in, brother.
Wes
Thank you. Yeah. Appreciate all you guys insight. I've been listening to you guys for a couple years now, so it's cool to actually talk to you guys. Thank you for everything you do.
Andy Purcell
You're welcome, bro. Thank you for going out there and doing the best that you can do. All right, brother.
Wes
You guys have a good weekend.
DJ
You too, man.
Andy Purcell
You too, bro.
DJ
You know, I was thinking, because I've heard you say this a few times too, it's like, you know, people always come to 1P and they're like, man, where'd you guys find all these good people?
Andy Purcell
Yeah, like we picked them off a employee tree.
DJ
Yeah, right, right. You got to build them.
Andy Purcell
Yeah.
DJ
There has to be some investment into that.
Andy Purcell
Well, and then once the culture starts to. Once like it starts to material and gel, the culture becomes the filter. Okay, so like, once, then those good people do come.
DJ
Yeah, yeah, good people.
Andy Purcell
It attracts good people, but it also filters out the people that won't make it here.
DJ
Yeah.
Andy Purcell
You know what I'm saying? So in the beginning, it's. It's a little more difficult. And when it gets bigger, it becomes like an organism that is self sustaining for the most part. You still have to pour a lot of effort into it, but it's just a little bit different way. But where Vince is, you know, that's a difficult situation in any small business owner's career. You know, they're good at Their skill set, but they don't quite understand how to operate a team or the business. I give him a lot of credit for, you know, the fact that he's like, well, I was thinking, you know, I need to look at him like this. That's exactly right. Exactly right. And, you know, my goal. For a long time I ran businesses like, he's kind of running them now, where I just wanted you to show up, do your shit, go the fuck home. And when I. When I started to understand. Here's what made me understand it. You are asking that person to trade a large amount of their life for something. It's gotta be bigger than money. You see what I'm saying? And the great thing about this is that people love building big ass shit. The bigger the thing, the harder the thing, the more inspired people are to take it on. And the greatest part of my life, a lot of people think like, oh, it's probably that he gets to drive these cool cars and fly private planes and know all these, you know, people and like, yeah, that's all cool. The coolest part of my life is being able to say that we built something that not only benefited our customers, but allowed our team members to have a great life, fulfill their goals. Yeah.
DJ
Yeah.
Andy Purcell
It's the fucking coolest thing ever, dude.
DJ
Yeah.
Andy Purcell
And it's the thing I'm most proud of. You know, it's not. It's not. It's, you know, all the other shit is cool. I'm not going to lie. Okay. Yeah, it's fucking cool. It's cool. It's cool, it's cool, it's cool. But what the coolest thing is is that when you. When you see the people who have traded their time for this big vision winning as well. That's. That's the bro.
DJ
Yeah, bro. New house, new car.
Andy Purcell
Yes.
DJ
Yeah, bro.
Andy Purcell
That's awesome, bro.
DJ
Yeah. Yeah.
Andy Purcell
It's the best ever.
DJ
Yeah. That's real, man. I love it, man. Guys. Andy, that was three. Well, they went. Hell of a way to start a Monday.
Andy Purcell
Yeah. All right, let's get out there, let's make some happen. We'll see you guys tomorrow with a little cruise the Internet action. And don't be a hoe share the show. Yeah.
DJ
Went from sleeping on the floor now.
Andy Purcell
My jury parks froze up bow a stove Counted millions in a cold bad bitch booted swole got her own bank roll can't fold that's a no head shot case Close.
Podcast Title: REAL AF with Andy Frisella
Host/Author: Andy Frisella
Episode: 919. Q&AF: Accountability With Team Members, Dealing With Loss & Finding Good Employees
Release Date: August 11, 2025
In Episode 919 of REAL AF with Andy Frisella, host Andy Frisella engages in a candid and insightful Q&A session, addressing critical topics that resonate deeply with entrepreneurs and leaders. This episode delves into accountability with team members, dealing with personal loss, and strategies for finding and retaining good employees. Through real-life scenarios and actionable advice, Andy provides listeners with the tools they need to navigate these challenges effectively.
Timestamp: 05:04 – 23:32
Caller: Wes (Vince)
Topic: Navigating Leadership Challenges as a New Team Leader
Overview:
Wes, a newly appointed team leader at a well-known grocery retail store, shares his struggles with holding team members accountable, particularly those who are older and resistant to taking direction from a younger leader. He mentions experiencing pushback, including a team member outright refusing to follow his instructions due to age-related biases.
Key Insights and Discussions:
Challenges of Leading Across Generations:
Andy empathizes with Wes’s situation, sharing his own experiences of leading older team members when he was in his mid-20s. He emphasizes that resistance often stems from a misplaced sense of seniority rather than actual competence.
Identifying and Addressing Toxic Team Members:
Andy advises Wes to identify toxic individuals who undermine team cohesion and to systematically replace them with more cooperative members. He states, “Those people create cancer in the group. They will undermine you and kill your ability to create an effective team” (08:30).
Inspiring vs. Commanding:
The core of effective leadership lies in inspiring team members rather than commanding them. Andy explains, “They are only going to work at their best when they are inspired to be their best, not motivated to be their best” (13:45).
Consistent Communication of Vision:
Leaders must consistently communicate the team’s long-term vision and how individual roles contribute to achieving it. This approach helps align team members’ personal goals with organizational objectives.
Positive Reinforcement and Honest Feedback:
Utilizing techniques like the positivity sandwich—where positive feedback is given, followed by constructive criticism, and ending with positive remarks—can make difficult conversations more palatable and effective.
Notable Quotes:
Timestamp: 26:48 – 38:02
Caller: Anonymous Listener
Topic: Coping with the Loss of a Pet
Overview:
A listener shares his profound grief over losing his dog, highlighting the emotional turmoil that affects his daily routines, including his commitment to workouts. He expresses feelings of inadequacy and frustration, exacerbated by his perception of himself as a "sad sack of shit."
Key Insights and Discussions:
Acknowledging Grief as a Universal Experience:
Andy validates the listener’s grief, sharing his own experiences with losing pets. He underscores that grief is a natural part of life and a testament to the bond shared with their pets.
Taking Action as a Path to Healing:
Contrary to conventional advice to "take it easy," Andy advocates for taking proactive steps to overcome grief. He suggests immersing oneself in structured programs like 75 Hard to rebuild mental fortitude and regain a sense of purpose.
Finding New Purpose and Companionship:
Andy recommends getting another pet as a means to heal. He shares his personal journey of adopting another dog, which helped him move forward without diminishing the memory of his lost pet.
Building Resilience Through Adversity:
Developing mental toughness allows individuals to handle unexpected and difficult circumstances more effectively. Andy emphasizes that resilience is not an innate trait but a skill that can be cultivated through consistent effort and purpose-driven actions.
Notable Quotes:
Timestamp: 38:14 – 62:38
Caller: Wes
Topic: Strategies for Recruiting and Retaining Reliable Employees in a Construction Business
Overview:
Wes, a 37-year-old general contractor from Dewey, Arizona, discusses his difficulties in finding dependable workers for his fencing and construction business. He faces issues with employees not showing up or quitting abruptly, which hampers his ability to manage large projects effectively.
Key Insights and Discussions:
Shifting Mindset to Building a Company Vision:
Andy advises Wes to transition from viewing employees as mere workers to seeing them as integral parts of a larger mission. By articulating a clear and compelling vision for the company, Wes can attract and inspire employees who are committed to the mission rather than just working for a paycheck.
Defining and Communicating a Clear Vision:
Leaders must clearly define what they want to achieve and communicate this vision consistently to their team. This clarity helps in attracting individuals who resonate with the company’s goals and are willing to commit long-term.
Incentivizing Through Purpose and Growth:
Instead of offering superficial perks, Andy suggests focusing on providing meaningful growth opportunities and demonstrating how each employee’s role contributes to their personal and professional development.
Building a Strong Company Culture:
Creating a culture of mutual respect, accountability, and shared purpose fosters loyalty and reduces turnover. Andy emphasizes that a strong culture acts as both a magnet for good employees and a filter for those who are not a good fit.
Investing in Employee Relationships:
Andy underscores the importance of treating employees with genuine care and interest in their well-being. This approach not only enhances job satisfaction but also promotes a supportive and collaborative work environment.
Notable Quotes:
Episode 919 of REAL AF with Andy Frisella offers a treasure trove of insights for leaders and individuals grappling with accountability, personal loss, and building a reliable team. Andy’s no-nonsense approach, backed by personal anecdotes and practical advice, provides listeners with actionable strategies to overcome these challenges. Whether you’re a new team leader like Wes, dealing with the grief of losing a pet, or struggling to find dependable employees for your business, this episode equips you with the mental fortitude and tactical knowledge to navigate these hurdles successfully.
Key Takeaways:
By embracing these principles, leaders can foster resilient, motivated teams capable of achieving remarkable success even in the face of adversity.
Final Thoughts:
Andy Frisella’s episode is a powerful reminder that leadership, personal resilience, and team building are ongoing journeys filled with challenges and opportunities for growth. His honest and straightforward advice provides a solid foundation for anyone looking to excel in these areas.
Note: All timestamps correspond to the provided transcript and are intended to highlight key parts of the discussion.