He Was Broke, Addicted, and Lost… Now He Makes $1 Million Per Month | Cole DaSilva E498

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Rich Somers Report

Episode Title: He Was Broke, Addicted, and Lost… Now He Makes $1 Million Per Month | Cole DaSilva E498
Date: May 2, 2026
Host: Rich Somers
Guest: Cole "The Wolf" Lewis Da Silva

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Episode Overview

Rich Somers sits down with Cole DaSilva, an online entrepreneur and fitness coach, who went from broke and addicted to building a business bringing in over $1 million per month. The conversation dives deep into Cole’s personal journey overcoming addiction, building a high-performing business, the power of self-responsibility, entrepreneurial culture in Canada, taxes, family, masculinity, and actionable advice for growth. The episode is unfiltered, candid, energetic, and full of practical wisdom for aspiring entrepreneurs and anyone interested in real personal transformation.

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Major Discussion Points & Takeaways

1. Cole’s Rock Bottom and Transformation

• Addiction Background:
  • Cole was $20k in debt, $5k overdraft, addicted to Percocets and drinking daily while working grueling hours as an ironworker.
  • He called himself an "active addict"—he was functioning, but entirely dependent to dull pain and keep working.
  • "Before I knew it, I was blacking out around seven to nine every day… work while so high." (14:33)
• Turning Point:
  • Realized he needed to change after seeing the struggles of older coworkers and repeated embarrassing moments.
  • Quit everything cold turkey after a hard wake-up call: “I'm 22. I moved here to start a new life. I'm addicted… No friends, no family, no money. Fuck this. So I literally quit cold turkey. Dumped all I had down the toilet.” (17:35)
  • Six months of sobriety and self-focus led him to meet his wife and business partner, Brian Mark.

2. Entrepreneurial Journey & Online Success

• Business Growth:
  • Cole and Brian built a business to $1M+/month, $47M+ in total sales, primarily helping fitness coaches and online entrepreneurs (09:03, 19:11).
  • Emphasis on focus and controlling what you can: “You are in control of your situation at all times. But a lot of people like to relinquish that control…” (00:17, 46:25).
• ‘Sell by Chat’ Controversy:
  • Shared story of teaching sales methodology (the “DM script”) to Dan Martell, later discovering it was repackaged as a free lead magnet by Dan’s team.
  • The fallout was about credit and open-source vs. direct copying without tweaks or attribution.
  • “The main meat and potatoes of the frustration was… our processes got used as the free lead magnet for you to then sell what you got taught from us.” (05:37)

3. Life and Taxes in Canada

• Location & Government:
  • Cole lives in Kelowna, BC. He describes the area as “Kelowna-fornia”—sunny, lakefront, but with high taxes and entrepreneurial isolation (01:03, 08:56).
  • High Canadian taxes, especially for entrepreneurs; discussed impact of the 50% “exit tax” and luxury taxes (09:43, 10:14, 27:32).
  • Compared US vs. Canadian real estate and tax structures (10:33, 11:12).

4. Mindset, Masculinity & Accountability

• Cultural Shifts:
  • Critiqued the “softness” of modern men, decline in accountability, and rise of blame culture.
  • On splitting the bill: “Men out there that want to split the check with their girl… you need to not try to date. Stay single. Build up yourself.” (32:01)
  • On parenting: A parent’s influence is everything—“As soon as that kid comes into the world, your problems don't matter anymore. It is my duty to do what is necessary for that little boy and little girl.” (34:21)
  • On fatherhood: Stresses breaking negative cycles (“forest fire” analogy), being present, and setting standards for sons (38:57, 56:33).

5. Real Estate, Wealth, and Tax Strategy

• Active Income vs. Wealth Building:
  • Rich and Cole riff on the misconception that real estate is just about cash flow rather than being a tax and debt strategy (10:33).
  • Canadian limitations vs. U.S. flexibility in leveraging depreciation and tax shelters (27:01, 27:14).
• Building a Team:
  • Discussed why A players are rare, how to structure incentives (e.g., media team bonuses for viral clips), and why leaders must protect top talent (61:07, 62:35).

6. Self-Improvement and Relationships

• Growth and Attraction:
  • Cole highlights that success in life and relationships stems from first improving yourself: “Cut out all drinking, all drugs, all women… all I did was work out, work…” (46:25)
  • Stresses the importance of sacrificing for growth (“Sometimes you got to sacrifice things you want, otherwise the things you want become the sacrifice.” 44:38)
  • Supported by Rich: “It’s never too late to reinvent yourself, dude.” (46:17)
• On Love & Family:
  • “She [wife] is my soundboard in business. Her ideas on the back end has made us millions and millions of dollars…” (32:36)
  • The way you treat your wife sets the standard for your kids (56:33).

7. Viral Moments & Memorable Quotes

• On Agency:
  • “You are in control of your situation at all times.” (00:17, 46:25)
• On Modern Masculinity:
  • “A lot of men need to grow the fuck up.” (33:46)
• On Parenting:
  • “Your problems don't matter anymore. It is my duty to do what is necessary for that little boy that I have and for that little girl that I have.” (34:21)
• On Spending Time:
  • “If you grind for your family, then you would spend time with your family.” (00:36, 39:03)
• On Team Dynamics:
  • “A good manager and owner should fire all the BNC players, period. Because if your A players are consistently having to pick up the slack, eventually they will get burnt out…” (61:22)
• On Growth:
  • “Certain doors don’t open for you until you become the version of yourself that can walk through them.” (48:22)
• On Authenticity:
  • “Authenticity to me is defined as you being who you truly are without any influence from the outside world… meaningful businesses, meaningful lives, meaningful futures: authenticity above all.” (77:37)

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Key Timestamps

• 00:00–01:30 – Cole’s backstory, addiction, early struggles, and mindset
• 03:20–07:00 – The “DM script” controversy and intellectual property in entrepreneurship
• 10:11–12:00 – Canadian taxes, real estate investing, and cross-border strategy
• 12:03–18:20 – Deep dive into addiction, withdrawal, and turning points for recovery
• 19:11–22:49 – Media negativity vs. personal agency and why “there’s always a reason not to start”
• 23:51–27:14 – Modern masculinity, government dependency, homelessness, and taxes
• 30:00–33:46 – Cultural shift in gender roles, accountability, and the state of “soft men”
• 34:21–40:42 – The impact of parenting, fatherhood, discipline, breaking cycles
• 46:17–48:22 – Self-development, reinventing yourself, and attracting success
• 61:07–69:23 – Team-building, attracting and compensating A players
• 77:37–79:11 – Authenticity as the future trait for meaningful business in the age of AI

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Memorable Moments & Quotes (with Approx. Timestamps)

• On Quitting Addiction:
  “Six months later, met my best friend and business partner that we've generated, what, 47 million in sales now? And I met my wife. All because I just focused on me.” (00:00)
• On Sell by Chat Drama:
  “We taught them… Brian technically taught him the process that created millions… but then they used our script as a free lead magnet.” (05:37)
• On Taxes:
  “Canada has a 50% exit tax, meaning if I want to move my company outside of Canada, the evaluation of my company, I have to pay 50% of the government just to leave.” (09:43)
• On Accountability:
  “If you want to change your life, then you need to change your life. Like, you need to stop acting like a child.” (18:20)
• On Real Estate:
  “A lot of people think real estate’s about cash flow. Real estate's about understanding debt and taxes.” (10:33)
• On Self-Development:
  “Why would you not want to work out so you feel better? … All because I just focused on me. It wasn’t about trying to go find, it was about attracting.” (46:25, 47:35)
• On Modern Men:
  “We don’t have enough strong men trying to teach men how to be men.” (31:13)
• On Children and Parenting:
  “Your problems don’t matter anymore… It is my duty to do what is necessary for that little boy… and for that little girl.” (34:21)
• On Team-Building:
  “A good manager and owner should fire all the BNC players, period.” (61:22)
• On Growth:
  “Certain doors don’t open for you until you become the version of yourself that can walk through them.” (48:22)
• On Authenticity in the AI Era:
  “If it’s just money, whatever… But meaningful businesses, meaningful lives, meaningful futures: authenticity above all.” (77:37)

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Practical Wisdom & Actionable Advice

• For Entrepreneurs:
  Embrace self-responsibility; focus on what you can control. Success requires discipline and the willingness to do hard things—personally and professionally.
• On Building Teams:
  Hire and cultivate A players, compensate based on impact, and be ruthless in keeping only those who deliver and align with culture.
• On Family and Success:
  Wealth is meaningless if it costs you your presence at home; being a successful provider also means being emotionally and physically present.
• On Growth & Change:
  Reinvention is always possible, regardless of starting point or age. Sacrifice and delayed gratification lead to long-term transformation.

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Connect with Cole Da Silva

• Instagram/TikTok: @colelewisdasilva
• Rich Somers: @rich_somers

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Closing Note

This episode provides a no-BS look at what it takes to turn life around, build a $1M/month business, the realities of taxes and entrepreneurship in Canada, and why working on yourself is the first step to attracting better outcomes—in business, health, and relationships.

Transcript

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

I reached a point in my life where I didn't know what I could control anymore. I was like, I can hate everything. $20,000 in debt, $5,000 overdraft, nothing going for me. I'm addicted to substances. I'm drinking all the time. I need to change. Six months later, met my best friend and business partner that we've generated, what, 47 million in sales now? And I met my wife. All because I just focused on me. You are in control of your situation at all times. But a lot of people like to relinquish that control because it stems from not being taught self responsibility and self awareness. It all stems back to the way that you were raised. And I don't think enough men are being told that they need to become dogs. Like most of these go. I grind for my family. If you grind it for your family, then you would spend time with your family.

[Rich Summers]

All right, guys, today I got someone who is doing big things in the business space, the online space, and came from something that self made. A very inspiring Friday, I got my man Cole the Wolf De Silva in the building. What's up, Cole?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

What's up, brother? How you doing, dude?

[Rich Summers]

I'm doing amazing, man. So your partner's Brian Mark and you live north of the border up there in Kelowna?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yes, sir.

[Rich Summers]

What is it like living in Kelowna, Canada?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

It's actually pretty good. It's pretty good. So again, came from Ontario, Thunder Bay. Very, very cold. Boonies, cold like 45 minutes into the country. Grew up with a lot of snow all the time. Moved to Calgary, Alberta, Mid Canada. Again, very cold. Kelowna is like Kelowna Fornia. That's literally what they call it because you're on a lake, there's barely any snow ever. It's sunny all the time. It's the only reason why I can justify living in Canada while getting absolutely dog walked by the government in taxes.

[Rich Summers]

So I got to ask you, your boy, Dan Martell, he's been on the podcast a couple of times. I know he's up there in Kelowna. Do you. I know Kelowna is a small town, relatively speaking. Do you guys all see each other every time you guys go out to eat, restaurants, coffee, the gym?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

It's funny, you don't know about this, do you?

[Rich Summers]

Are you talking about little, little heat between him and Brian Mark? That was my next question. That was the next question.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

We don't anymore. We don' anymore. So I'm actually kind of saying you

[Rich Summers]

guys avoid each other or he avoids You.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Well, I don't know. I don't know who avoids you or whatever goes on. All I know is that I love the boys. Like, I'm connected to all of them. I would say my media team and Dan's media team are literal family. Like, they're with each other all the time. I love boys to death. Oh, yeah, dude. What? Sam was Matisse's best man. Matisse is my clipper sequencer. Ronnie and Sam are together all the time. So me and the boys all love each other.

[Rich Summers]

I love Sam Gaudette. He. He was at our yacht workshop last month. And by the way, you're going to be at our yacht workshop tomorrow.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Hell, yeah.

[Rich Summers]

What's. Okay, so let's break down. What happened? So I gotta hear. I gotta hear that. What happened here? All the te. So I know you and Brian Mark, our business partners, you guys put out a lot of content. You guys have a business doing a million plus a month in revenue. And Dan Martel's up there in Kelowna as well. And I know Dan has all these call to actions, and he's got his own program, he's got his own funnels and all that sort of stuff. And then one day, I'm like, I see Brian's, like, calling out Dan on Instagram, and he's basically claiming that Dan Martel's, you know, funnel, his. His setters in the DM script that he's basically giving out to his audience for free is actually from Brian. And Brian literally shows screenshots of, like, Dan's exact setter script. Word for word, got it from Brian. And then he even shows, like, texts, like, screenshots of, like, him messaging Dan and calling him out. And anyways, that's crazy stuff. What that. What the heck happened there?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Well, the gist of it was pretty simple. Again, first and foremost, who taught them how to do sell by chat? Me and Brian. And that's not a secret. That's very normal. We literally have helped so many individuals create Sell by Chat in their accounts. So we have the screenshots to prove that we help the team do sell by chat, not because we wanted anything, but because we like helping people. So when we got the DM from him in the past, and when I say we, I mean Brian, because he got the DM from him. Brian gave him everything. Now, hold on.

[Rich Summers]

Dan reached out to Brian and said, yo, uh, I'm looking to enhance my sell by chat.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yes.

[Rich Summers]

What kind of.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I want to start Sell by chat. He Wasn't doing it at all. So Brian then gave him everything. Now I give him for that because that's how Brian is. He literally gives away all of our processes and all of our DM scripts and everything all the time. But he sat down with them and he gave them the entire playbook.

[Rich Summers]

Oh, they met, like in person.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Oh, yeah. Gave them literally absolutely everything from the entire breakdown. We actually even have the call recording where they were on Zoom, where Brian taught the entire group of him the entire sub process from beginning to end, which again, by the way, good. Like, that's how we want it. We help everybody like that. That's what we want to do.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah, it's good. It's good to help people out and. And we help people out all the time. And. And so many entrepreneurs come on the. The podcast and they give me a game all the time. That's how we learn. But I'm shocked. I'm shocked, especially from someone of Dan Martell's caliber, that they wouldn't, at a minimum, tweak the wording. So it's coming from him and not word for word coming from Brian.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

And that was the problem with that,

[Rich Summers]

because had he done that, it wouldn't have been a big deal, right?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

It wouldn't be a big deal at all. Because that's how business works, right? Everybody hears random strategies on a daily basis. Then they implemented in their own business. They change it for themselves. So the gist was simple. We taught them the. We, Brian technically taught him the salvage process that we have ran that created millions and millions of dollars for us. They created in their own business. They started winning the problem. And this is where the disconnection comes. Dan didn't do anything. Like Dan himself didn't do anything, which is a positive and a negative. A positive in the aspect that he didn't go, fuck these boys. Let's rip off their and sell it. But he had it in the processes where his team then did it. And the reason why it's a problem is because also, like, Dan's not going to publicly apologize like Brian asked you, which I know that you also know as well, and the way that the entire beef happened, but it lined up to the degree that they put it in the back folder and someone in his team pulled it out. And the real, I think, slap in the face, which triggered us. And again, I say us because Brian's my boy. He's my fucking family. So I'm ride or die with him, no matter what. But the reason why everybody saw Brian get so Mad wasn't that our processes got used. It was the fact that our processes got used as the free lead magnet for you to then sell what you got taught from us.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah, it was literally Dan Martell's play by play sell in the chat DM script or whatever he called it. Yes, it was literally called that.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yep. Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

I mean, it's crazy, right?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

And that's where I think I didn't know about that. And that's where, like, speculation hits, where I'm like, does he know? Does he not know? I don't know. I'm like, I love all the boys. I'm gonna stay neutral to the degree. And if anything ever escalates, I'm like, obviously I got my brother's back. And that's how it's gonna be broken down. But I think the gist of it, the main meat and potatoes of the frustration was that was the. We taught you. It's obviously going well. We're always here as an open book where now you're paying clients because we were VIP clients under Dan. And then we figured out that this happened.

[Rich Summers]

So I gotta ask you guys. So. So Brian put out a bunch of content, ripping into Dan, calling them out.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

There's a bunch of it. There's so many screenshots, random funny videos, clips like crazy. And.

[Rich Summers]

And. And was there any. Was there any response from Dan's team?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

No. Oh, what? That's actually not true. There wasn't a response from Dan. There was a slight conversation which I feel like escalated a little bit more on the aspect of Brian and Dan got on the phone call. The gist was I afterwards, not like after all of the beef happened. This was initially right off the bat, Brian, Dan got on a call. Dan just said, I apologize if this happened, which isn't like a crazy rectification. Again, like you just made millions and millions and millions of dollars off of our process and then use our process as a free lead magnet. That's kind of a slap in the face. So that's why Brian wanted more. And then the escalation didn't come from Dan himself, it came from his manager. So next thing you know, the manager on his team, I'll keep his name out of it because he's a good guy. But he's the one who called Brian and basically said, yeah, none of that shit's happening, bro. Like, let bygones be bygones. That's the end of this. And if you know Brian and you see his content, that's not a great thing to say. Because he's like, fuck it, let's just get loud and make a bunch of jokes about it. And then I say, you know, me and my boys are just seeing these jokes and these slides and these pop ups and I'm just like, shit happens, bro.

[Rich Summers]

Damn. And so, so now, I mean, because you guys live in a small town in Kelowna, Dan Martell's up there, you guys are up there. You said that you used to see them all the time and now, now you don't really run into that.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Well, I think it's more of like, we used to actually go out of our ways to hang out. We used to go out of our ways to see each other. Because even in Kelowna, like, it's a small town, I think it's like 250,000 people between west side and the regular side, we live on side, so we'd have to actually go out of our way to always be on the other side consistently, which we don't really do. But even with that, like, you don't actually see a lot of the entrepreneurs as much as we do. We were talking about Kelowna a little bit earlier. It's a crazy entrepreneurial town, but unless you're actively going to meet the other entrepreneurs, you barely see any of them. Like, that's why when I first moved to the town, I didn't really realize that there was even a entrepreneurial scene, because they're all just silent, they're all grinding, or they're on a boat, or they're in their cars outside of Kelowna doing something fun. So it's not really like a run into each other town.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah, it's interesting because in today's age with social media and technology, it's really brought the world together.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yeah, it does.

[Rich Summers]

Back in, you know, 20 years ago, 30 years ago, if you wanted to be a successful entrepreneur, you had to move and live in like a major market, you know, Miami, a Los Angeles, New York, Boston, San Francisco. Otherwise you're not going to be seen. Right. It's hard to get your message out there. But in today's age, I mean, you can live anywhere. I mean, you guys are proof of that. You're living in Kelowna bc and you guys are, are cranking some big numbers out there. It's not bad in a lot of views.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

It's not bad, dude, it's, it's become like a very cool little entrepreneurial town. And again, I have to say little, because it's fudgeing tiny. Like when you get there it's literally tiny. Our downtown is like this one block.

[Rich Summers]

Have you guys ever thought about moving to, like, a bigger city?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yes. Yes. And then I realized that Canada has a 50% exit tax, meaning if I want to move my company outside of Canada, the evaluation of my company, I have to pay 50% of the government just to leave. And as soon as I heard that, I went, cool, nevermind, because I'm not number one. I don't have that liquid cash. We know our evaluation of our company, and I can't do that, so I'll figure it out other ways. So we are actually looking at some secondary homes here. But again, secondary being the key word.

[Rich Summers]

What's the tax structure like out there in Canada? You guys have high taxes.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yeah, I think at the end of all of the taxes in total, not just income tax, it sits at around 47 to 48%. Yeah, it's fogged.

[Rich Summers]

We got to get you into some real estate depreciation, bro.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

No, I know. That's why when you talked about hotels, I was like, okay, what do I do? What do I do? Because all I know is buy a house and then have fun in the house until I hate the house and let me buy a new house.

[Rich Summers]

That's the game. And it's like, you got to have the active income from the business, and then you park it into assets that give you depreciation. A lot of people think real estate's about cash flow. Real estate's about understanding debt and taxes. Use debt to buy it, and then you get all the tax benefits that come out of it, which give you a huge tax break. Then you take the tax savings, you roll that into more real estate.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

See, and this is where I start to feel like an idiot and where my. My brain just wants to pick your brain for the next, like, 45 minutes. Because when it comes down to that, then I hear if I should buy real estate, I should buy it in the States instead of Canada. Because in Canada, you have to renew your mortgage every year. One of the States, there's a lot more benefits in doing it longer term, but I have no idea what that looks like.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah, I don't know all the bylaws up in Canada. I do know some folks that invest in a real estate up there. I know Toronto's a pretty strong market. Vancouver is very strong. You guys aren't too far from Vancouver.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yeah, no. Four hours.

[Rich Summers]

I love. I used to love snowboarding. I don't. I don't have time as much time anymore, but Whistler's out there. That's one of my favorite resorts.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

It's so nice, bro. It's so nice. Like, snowboarding is probably one of my favorite things to do in the world, I will say. And maybe it's just because I refuse to stretch or it's the excuse in my mind of, like, I'm getting old, but I'm gonna learn how to ski. Because something about getting on my ass every time I get to the top of the mountain to put my bindings on drives me crazy. Like, I'm not mobile enough to consistently do that. I'm like, I don't feel like bodybuilding and snowboarding mix very well. So I'm like, I'm just gonna ski so I can pop my feet in there and go down the mountain.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah, yeah, I feel you on that, man. So I'm curious for you. So you were a drug addict?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

What drugs were you on?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

What drugs were I not on? No, I'm just kidding. So the main one was Percocets. So I was what I like to call an active addict. And the reason why I came up with that term is because I came up with it. There's no other person that said that. I just came out of my brain. There's no real definition on it. But I called myself an active addict because I wasn't what I would define as a loser who just didn't do anything. I was, like, actively working through my addiction. And my addiction only stemmed because I needed to take something to help me keep working. So when I became an iron worker, I moved from Thunderby, Ontario, Canada, to Calgary, Alberta. Calgary, Alberta, I say, is like, one of the four big cities in all of Canada. And I became an MBSC ironworker. So I would do metal building system erector. So I'd come standal the steel, then I would roof it, then I would clad it, put the siding on, then I would trim it all out, and then I would leave. So some of the buildings were like 3 to 5,000 square feet. Some of the buildings were pushing, like, 50 to 100,000 square feet. And we're pushing at heights between, like, 40ft to 80, 60ft up there. Yeah. And the. The beams are funny, dude. Like, I would say the width of this book in front of me is what we'd like to call a dance floor, because your entire foot can fit on the dance floor where most of the beams, I would say, are half of that. So you got half your foot hanging off the entire time. So it was fun. It was a blast. But I moved you're out there in the cold. Oh, yeah.

[Rich Summers]

I mean, and you're. You're probably starting early in the morning, still dark outside.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Oh, yeah. So like, we'd start at around like 6:37 in the morning.

[Rich Summers]

Can you even feel your feet?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

No, no, no, not at all, dude. No, not even a little bit. You can't feel your face, can't feel your feet, can't feel your hands? Can't feel anything. In the winter, dude, it gets down to like minus 30 degrees Celsius. I have no idea what that is in Fahrenheit, but yeah.

[Rich Summers]

And so how did you get on the Percocet game?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

To save my body from feeling the pain of iron working. So I was an iron worker for three and a half total years. Around a year and a half, I started to wake up like this. So, like, we call it chicken feet. Apparently it's a very prominent thing with individuals who are in construction because it happens through like, what's the terminology? Onset arthritis and carpal tunnel. So my forearms would start getting so tight that I literally couldn't open my fingers at like 21 years old. So I went to the doctor. They're like, oh, take ibuprofen. And I'm like, you don't think I thought of that? Like, I need something else. Asked him all these questions, asked a bunch of times, wasn't working. And then the. One of my co workers had perks at the, at the work site. He's like, yo, do you want one of these? Like, cool, yeah, I'll try it. Took one, couldn't feel my hands. I'm like, oh, there we go. Next thing you know, one led to two, two led to three. Before I knew it, I was blacking out around seven to nine every day. I would carry around a hundred in my pocket at all times. And I would work while so high.

[Rich Summers]

And would you feel them just to. Would you take them just to feel normal at a certain point?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

At first it was to feel normal so I could work. Then it got heavy addiction to the point where, like, I wouldn't remember showing up or leaving work. So I'd be completely blacked out. Walking steel that was thinner than the ducting above our heads right now, 60ft

[Rich Summers]

in the air and three years in, like, what. What would you feel if you stop taking them?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Oh, dude. Horrible pill sickness. So have you ever been addicted to substances?

[Rich Summers]

I've had some addictions in the past. Xanax was something that I was addicted to at a. At an early age when I was like, 2021 and I had a full blown addiction to Xanax. This is before I got into my air traffic control career. But yeah, that was like hell coming off of.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Dude, it's rough.

[Rich Summers]

As soon as I, I, I started to feel like I was maybe like 18 hours from taking one. He started to kind of feel like a little, little heavy time starts to go a little bit slower, your palms start to get a little sweaty, you have no appetite, everything feels awkward, you feel uncomfortable. No confidence, no knee pain.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

The knee pain from opioids was insane. So like, everything that you said, I felt all those things felt very nauseous but also hungry at the same time. It was like a weird emotion. But dude, the knee pain, like thinking about it, I can feel it again. Like, it was like, it literally felt like you stuck a crowbar in between my kneecap and my bone and it was like grinding so bad that I was like sitting there. Like, I literally felt like my knees were going to implode. I felt like I was going to throw up and fudgeing, needed to eat at the same time. It was like this weird transition moment of trying to get off but trying to not go back to the thing. It was bad.

[Rich Summers]

Damn, that's crazy, man. So how did you end up getting off of it?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

I just quit cold turkey.

[Rich Summers]

Damn.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yeah, it was.

[Rich Summers]

I did the same thing with the Xanax thing because I was getting hired for the faa air traffic control and they drug test and I was like, oh shit, I better, I better stop. And I didn't know because Xanax is like a Benzo. And so I didn't know when you stop, like people have seizures and so you're not supposed to just quit cold turkey. You're supposed to get on some other stuff to weed off. But I was like, dude, I can't tell anyone. And so I just, I just did it on my own. So you just woke up one day and you said, hey, like, I'm not gonna do it anymore.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Well, it was kind of a mix of everything. It was number one. Woke up one day and it was like, kind of like the past kept flashing because there's so many different stories of me being like crazy high drunk as making a fuel of myself, and then my friends reminding me of it and I just felt like a real bad loser. Felt like a piece of. And then there was this individual that I used to work with, I'll keep his name out of it, named John, because if he ever watches anything, I never want him to be like, you call you crawl this content on me forever. But he was an older man, and, like, we did not get along, but like, he had goat in both feet. He's pushing like 59, dude, almost 60, iron working, could barely walk. Like, this guy was going through it. And I remember one day, I don't know why there was the series of events that day, but it was like I felt like my friends were making fun of me because I kept getting up all the time. They took a video of me all up. And then I heard myself so embarrassed. It was all these things. And I saw him at work one day, and when I looked at my co workers struggling to get his boots on with gout in both feet, struggling, grinding when he should have been retired already, not being able to retire, struggling like crazy, I was like, what am I doing, dude? Like, I'm 22. I moved here to start a new life. I'm addicted to Percocets, drinking every night. No friends, no family, no money. Fuck this. So I literally quit cold turkey. Dumped all I had down the toilet.

[Rich Summers]

You woke up?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yeah, woke up and went through the pill sentence, dude. And it was excruciating. It was hard as fuck, but it changed everything.

[Rich Summers]

Damn, that's crazy, man. That's. That's kind of like what I feel like I did after 11 years of air traffic control. I knew nothing about business, nothing about real estate. And one day I just woke up at 33 years old. I'm like, damn, there's a whole nother world out there, dude.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

It's crazy. The woke up is a really good way to put it. It was like this weird it's time, like, no more. And it's. It's hard to explain to a lot of people who want to stop anything, whether it's a addition to alcohol, because I am four and a half, five years sober now off alcohol as well. Ten years sober, off opioids, Cut everything out. I don't do any of that anymore. But it wasn't like, again, it wasn't a crazy drastic moment. It wasn't even like crazy rock bottom to me. It was just like a finally, like, what the am I doing? Like, I do not want to be like this anymore. I keep saying, I want to be this thing. I want to be successful. I want to change my life. I think it was just like this moment where I was. I woke up and said, if you want to change your life, then you need to change your life. Like, you need to stop acting like a child.

[Rich Summers]

That's powerful. I saw you and Brian Went out to Florida recently. You guys won an award for your funnel, doing a million dollars.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

First million USD a month. Yes.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah. First million USD a month. What was the name of that, that group right there that you got the award from?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

It was Jeremy Hayes, Inner circle.

[Rich Summers]

Okay. I love it, man. And by the way, congratulations. That's huge.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

It was very.

[Rich Summers]

And it really shows the power of like today's age. Like so many people, you know, tell me, they make all the excuses and they, you know, I think it's easy to watch the news and there's always bad news in a marketplace. You know, it's like, today we got the Iran war and destroyed Hormuz and you know, oil prices are spiking. But it's like every year there's going to be a reason not to get started. You know, in 2019, when I got in the game, everyone's like, dude, we're at the top of the cycle. Everything's going to crash. Is the wrong time to get in. And then it was like 2020 Covid happened. The world's on lockdown. People like, damn, what are you going to do? And then 21 is like, oh my gosh, we got all this inflation, like, what are you going to do? And then 22, the interest rates doubled. People are like, what are you going to do? But it's like every year there's going to be something and there's like, something. Today is the best time ever to be alive. Regardless of all the out there, regardless of all the news in a marketplace, there's always going to be bad news. But I tell people, I'm like, man, this is the best time ever to be alive. Because think about it. We can come up with an idea right now on this podcast tonight, and a business idea. We can go form an LLC tomorrow morning and we can start a social media account. We can start promoting our business and getting leads and making money like literally within 24 hours. That was not possible 15 years ago.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Fuck no.

[Rich Summers]

20 years ago, I still remember trying

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

to play video games and having dial up Internet and then somebody picking up the phone while I was playing video games on my dial up Internet. And then everybody getting angry at each other in the household. Like it's, it's wild to me, the opportunity that is currently in everybody's hands today. But the problem is that everybody wants to blame the world for why they can't get started on anything, when in reality it's just a subconscious attack in their conscious. They will not move because the world is in a horrible Place. I know nothing. The only reason why I even know that there is a war going on between Iran and the States, etcetera, is because Trump is hilarious to me in Canada, dude. He literally says whatever he wants. I know nothing about politics. Yeah, his Twitter posts are scary. I fucking love the impersonators of Trump. That's the only reason why I know anything, dude. I don't know shit about our own government. I don't know anything about gas prices. I don't know anything about what's going on in the world because I'm focused on me, my business, the people around me, my clients, what we can do, my family, my kids. Like, I'm focused on what.

[Rich Summers]

What you can control.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yes.

[Rich Summers]

What you can control. What's Trump's. What's his kind of reputation for the folks in Canada? I'm curious, dude.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

I don't know, because all I hear, everybody I know thinks he's fucking hilarious. I think the gist is like, he's a psychopath. But I feel like that's one of the reasons why I also like him, because he's the only person who just does crazy shit. He's like. And whenever he says something, I'm like, oh, he's going to do it. He's going to do it 100%.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

I'm.

[Rich Summers]

I'm pulling up his Twitter post right now from Easter Sunday, and I'm like, dude, I don't think we've ever had a president that, like, is just ripping, like, the definition of saying, like, whatever he wants to say.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Phone in his hands, going crazy, dude. It makes me laugh my ass off, dude.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah, no, insane. Insane. So what did he say here? I'm pulling it up right now as we speak, but would you say, okay, here we go. So this is, this is on Easter Sunday, which is, you know, you would think that's a day where, where most Americans, even if you're not religious, are

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

like, hey, we're gonna. I know exactly what you're talking about.

[Rich Summers]

So he says, on Easter Sunday, Tuesday will be power plant day, the bridge day. All wrapped up in one in Iran. There will be nothing like it. Open the straight, you crazy bastards, or you'll be living in hell. Just watch. Praise be to Allah. President Donald Trump.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yeah, dude. Like, that's crazy. Yeah, that's.

[Rich Summers]

Never had a president just say so. That's like some out of pocket stuff.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

But that's why you want to say, bro, I love that shit. I think it's fucking hilarious because again, I don't know anything that's going on in the political world. That shit's funny as fuck to me because we finally have a person out there, regardless of who he is in any situation, who doesn't give a fuck. And if more people, and this is why I always like to tell people, if people looked at their own lives the way that your guys's president looked at the way that he wants to run his life, everyone would be more fit, more rich, and living better lives because he does whatever the. He wants to do when he wants to do it. But the. The funny thing is that everybody has that control in their own life. If you don't want to be fat anymore, get thin. You don't want to be a drug addict, get sober. If you want more money, figure out how to make money. My highest education is high school. I just liked fitness, got into fitness, monetized fitness, built it into what I have today. It's like you are in control of your situation at all times. But a lot of people like to relinquish that control because it stems from not being taught self responsibility and self awareness. A lot of people like to avoid those two things, and that's why they never do anything. And then the government becomes their main source of conversation. I'm just like, dude, I don't give a fuck.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah. Do you. Do you think that because there's a lot of people, most people are like that? I would say most people, especially in these bigger cities, you know, you go up to San Francisco right now, Chicago, some of the more liberal areas, have the highest crime. They have the. The highest homeless population. They had the highest drug problem.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yep.

[Rich Summers]

But in Canada, I know you're in Canada. Do you see a lot of people relying on. On government subsidy?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Oh, yeah, dude.

[Rich Summers]

Like, it's worse than us, dude.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Our city. I. Worse than us. Probably not, because you guys have a lot of things that are, like, beneficial for the homeless. Even, like Section 8 housing. I've looked into that same type of thing in Canada. It's a lot different. So when it comes down to, like, relying on government, but when I'm talking about the homeless pandemic, for lack of a better term, it's rampant. Like, dude, our city is insane. We literally have an area of our city called tent city where there are hundreds of them. And they tried to get them out, maneuver them. Other places, a lot of them just went in the woods and they stay in the woods now and then they created these like, little tiny homes, it's called the tiny home shelters, where there's like 40, 50 deep. Multiple different ones all over the place. Like it's a problem.

[Rich Summers]

And that's why you guys have 50% tax rate in Canada.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Oh yeah.

[Rich Summers]

That's insane.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Our tax rate.

[Rich Summers]

So 50% of what you make, it just goes to government around there.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yeah. I would say, like, do they withhold that from like.

[Rich Summers]

Because here in the U.S. most business or most. If you're a W2 employee in the U.S. yeah. You get paid every two weeks, right?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

And. And then they will literally pull your taxes out of the paycheck and then you just receive the net. Do they do that in Canada?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Oh, yeah, yeah, that's what they do.

[Rich Summers]

So 50%, whatever you make is gone 50 before you even touch it. You don't even get to touch it?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

No, not 50% for the regular individuals. It's. The technical breakdown is around.

[Rich Summers]

That's the highest bracket.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

It's 27 to 32%, over 250,000. And then with everything else that you get taxed on top of the income tax, it works out to around 48% of the end of the year.

[Rich Summers]

48% all in. Okay, well, the highest tax bracket in the U.S. i think federally is about 38. And then California is 13% state income tax. So 38 plus 30. I mean you're looking at. What is that, 51.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

If I'm. It's right there. Like it's literally.

[Rich Summers]

You're in California, you're a high income earner.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

You're a doctor attorney, making 400k, 500k a year. You're paying 51%.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Well, that's why, like that's crazy, right? In Canada, like people can listen to us talk about how we make money and we get fucked by the government and be like, why the fuck don't you do anything about it? Because I physically can't. If I take my company out of Canada, I have to pay 50% tax instantly called exit tax. So if we have an evaluation of 20 million.

[Rich Summers]

What if you, what if you sold me your company for a dollar and then I sell it to you for $2?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

I still think that we'd have to give them a certain amount of money. Yeah, it's. It's weird ass fucking turnaround. I've, I've looked into it. I've looked into it, dude. I've checked a bunch of different options because my Brian got $10 million liquid cash laying in my back pocket to pay the government for a 50% exit tax just based off of a $20 million valuation. Depending on where we're Currently sitting at that year. So we're playing this different options, looking into it where I don't understand any of you who live in any state that is knowing that is above no income tax. Dude, if I lived in the states, I would have my ass in Texas or Florida with the gators or some shit. Instantly. Yeah, right away, dude.

[Rich Summers]

A lot of people moving out to Florida these days and leaving California for that very same reason right there. But, you know, if you understand a tax law, especially here in California, it's like, okay, there's ways to. To mitigate the tax thing.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

You guys got some good benefits down here with that too.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah, there's a lot of ways to get depreciation. There's a ton of ways to do it, dude.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Even simple things like. Like the people who just want to have fun with their lives so they end up getting the car tax write off. Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

CO section 179.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

In Canada, it's the opposite. So not. Not only can you not write off the G wagon, you have to pay 20 luxury tax.

[Rich Summers]

Really?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

What? That is nothing.

[Rich Summers]

Damn.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

It's just anything over 200 grand, you have to give the government 20 for no reason.

[Rich Summers]

Damn.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

For no reason. Just because you're rich. So instead of you getting to save money on your taxes because you bought the G wagon, you have to pay them 20 more because you bought the

[Rich Summers]

G. Do you guys have all the. The avenues in. In the tax code to.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

To.

[Rich Summers]

To save on not paying taxes, the depreciation, all these tax loopholes that we have down here because they. They tax the uneducated.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

Misinformed, right?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yes.

[Rich Summers]

Do you guys have a Carlton dentist in Canada that's like, yo, this is the.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yes, yes. We have a few people that have become in and been like, okay, listen, we're gonna do this, and we're gonna do this, and we're doing everything by the law. Yes.

[Rich Summers]

Okay. Okay. Yeah. Because the. The tax code is. Is big and like, in, like, there's only like so many pages on, like, how to pay your taxes, but then like, 90 of the tax code in the US is like, how to not pay your taxes.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

It's crazy.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah. It's like these are all the ways to not pay tax.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yeah, exactly.

[Rich Summers]

But interesting stuff. So why do you think so many people in today's environment? Because I, I like. I joke with my team all the time. I'm like, there's a lot of soft people in today's. In today's world, there's a reason I hire primarily woman. There's a lot of soft men in today's environment. And I don't know what it is. I joke with my business coach all the time, but I'm like, dude, a lot of these, it's. It's almost like the roles have flipped in today's age. You know, I was just watching the show out there. I know some friends that were on it. Temptation island just came out, the newest season. But at the end of the show, it was four couples. The end of the show, all the girls dumped the dudes, and all the dudes were crying at the end of the show. But I'm like. I'm, like, joking. It's like, with my girlfriend, I'm like, the rules have switched in today's culture. Testosterone levels for men are going down. These men are very insecure. They're emotional. Women today own more real estate than men in America. That's a fact. And so the playbook has completely shifted. You've seen, you're seeing a lot of female billionaires. Kylie Jenner, female billionaire at the age of 21. Oprah Winfrey. Right. And so it's almost like the roles have shifted in today's climate and in the workspace. I mean, this is limited sample size, but, like, woman, I find, are just the better roles for the job. They're more committed, they work, they work harder, they're loyal. They will, like, run through a brick wall where these guys are soft, man. This. The second there's any sort of, you know, conflict or any sort of friction or things aren't going to as according a plan, like, dude, they're soft, man.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yeah. They're like, they can't handle the heat situation. Why am I not making more money? Yeah, I'm worth more than this, but I don't have any skills.

[Rich Summers]

Zero accountability in this.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

Why do you think this is?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Parents didn't teach them properly. Like, I think it's. It all stems back to the way that you were raised. Me and my dad and my parents did not get along very well to the degree that, like, I would choose to couch surf for months before I went home. But we've reached under that relationship. Me and my dad had a conversation the other day. He's like, I know that we didn't see eye to eye, but he's like, I want to let you know that I'm incredibly proud of you. And he's like, and I won. I was like, what do you mean you won? He's like, well, I. I don't think you'll ever remember this conversation. But I remember I. I sat you down and I told you, I don't give a if you hate me for your entire childhood. As long as you become a good man, I'll win. And I was like, oh, I. With that. There we go. Because, dude, I'm like, me and my dad got into it, dog. Like, there was physical and emotional abuse in my house. Like, not, not joking around like abuse. There was bad things that happened in that home. But dude, I gotta accredit that to my parents, man. Like, they turned me into the dog that I am today. And I don't think enough men are being told that they need to become dogs. Like not, not the red pill society dogs where these guys walk around live streaming their lives, acting like pretty boys. Clean. Maxing.

[Rich Summers]

What the.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

What's this stupid called? Yeah, look, maxing. I can't stand that, dude. Drives me mental.

[Rich Summers]

What's it called? Looks messy.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

All these pretty boys look maxing on the Internet. It drives me crazy. I think it's stupid as like the, the tap in their face with the hammer to make themselves look more chisel. Just go get in shape, dog. Yeah, like just lose some way to work out. I think it's, it's. We don't have enough strong men trying to teach men how to be men and not, not chasing money, not trying ultra successful. We're not talking about wealth building. We're just men, dude. Like, yeah, where like the family can rely on you because you will.

[Rich Summers]

Provider.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yeah, you're a provider. And provider is not just financial. It's everything. It's mental, it's emotional, it's financial, etc.

[Rich Summers]

Bro, I got girls on my team that they'll, they'll go on a first date and they say half the time that the guy will ask to split the bill.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yeah, bro, I can't.

[Rich Summers]

What are your thoughts on men that split the bill?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

How do I got to be pg?

[Rich Summers]

No.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Gay. Gay. Dude, no. Absolutely not. Go get a boyfriend. Let him pay for the bill. Absolutely not, dude. So this is. The funny thing is I've got a, I've got a perspective on this. My wife is the best woman I've ever met. My life. Best woman I've ever met. My life. I always talk about our first date. One of the reasons why I really fell for her is one, on the first date, she ate like a dog. Like, she didn't get like the chill salad. She's like, let's fudgeing. Eat. And we ate some good food, which is a blast. My number two, she reached for the check. Now, obviously, I was a. Hell no. Like, I'm fudgeing paying for this. She didn't know that I was broke as fudge. Like, literally no money.

[Rich Summers]

This is your. Your Percocet days.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Oh, yeah. Like, I had no money, dude. I was 20,000 DOL debt with a $5,000 overdraft. I was pulling into the overdraft to be able to pay for the date. And we just did simple things. Mini golf, dinner, and a movie. That was literally it. But I'm like, that alone just showed the. The desire of, like, I'm not looking to be taken care of. I'm looking to be with someone, which I really enjoyed. But, dude, the. The men out there that want to split the check with their girls on the first date, you need to not try to date. Like, stay single. Build up yourself. Go build up your bank account. Not rich. Just build up your account so you can then be the man that is needed there. Because again, regardless of what everybody thinks in today's day and age, I grew up with a traditional mentality. It is the man's duty to protect and provide. It is the woman's duty to turn the house into a home. That's what my wife does. She's turned my house into a beautiful home with my two beautiful children. She supports me in everything that I do. And without her, I wouldn't have become the man that I am today. She is my soundboard in business. Her ideas on the back end has made us millions and millions of dollars because she hears all the things and she's like, why don't you try this? And then I just do. Ding more money. I'm like, okay, cool. So, yeah, I just don't believe in any of that shit, dude. I think a lot of men need to grow the up.

[Rich Summers]

I wonder, like, if. Because I think about this sometimes and, like, what happened in today's culture that really flipped the script. And I. I know of a lot of men that are, like, living at their parents, like, house, and this is, like, in 30s. I think it's a real thing. Oscar, you should look this up right now. I'm curious to see what the stat is, but it's like, a crazy percentage of men that are, like, in their 30s today that are, like, still living at home with their parents, living off their parents and just playing video games in a mom's basement. Like, I'm serious. Like, it's a real thing. It's a real thing. And I think. I think because of. I think it stems from the parents.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Oh, 100. This is the like. And this is where I get a lot of online for what I say about parenting and like, good parenting, bad parenting. But this is where everything that a person does stems from how they were raised, period. Every single thing across from the influence that the parents had, the subconscious and conscious actions that they take, everything is stemmed from your parents. I can't quote the video word for word, but if you look up Alex Mosey's video on influence and the power of influence, he goes through everything and how the highest influence person of your entire life is your parent because of it hits every stage of influence from when you were born until however old you are. Doesn't matter how old you get, you'll still feel like that kid every time your mom or dad says something mean to you. So I'm like, I loved the video and it showed it. And I think that right there should make more parents want to be better. Where like, dude, as soon as that kid comes into the world, your problems don't matter anymore. It is my duty to do what is necessary for that little boy that I have and for that little girl that I have. That's why I go train. I don't make excuses about not wanting to go to the gym. That's why I work on my business and I grind my face off. But that's also why I barely sleep, because I can't do everything I want to do and then neglect my family. Like most of these ass entrepreneurs, like most of these men who go, I grind for my family. That's why I need to work really hard. If you grind it for your family, then you spend time with your family.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah, yeah. 100. What. What shifts for you? Because when you have a kid. Because I don't have kids. I want to have. I want to have three to four kids, dude.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

It's the best thing ever, bro.

[Rich Summers]

I'll be 41 this year, so I'm a little bit of a late bloomer.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

She got to start pumping it out.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Ye. My.

[Rich Summers]

My girlfriend's only 25, so. So she's good in that department. But what shifts for you when you have a kid? Like, what's going to change for me,

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

dude, I think for me, well, first and foremost, a little bit of the backstory. I was petrified to have kids in the first place, so I don't know what your childhood was like. My childhood was very nurturing until it wasn't. And me and my parents talk about this a lot. It's a hard conversation for us, but I grew up with a lot of anger and temper in the household. Me and my little brothers fought a lot of me, and my parents fought really bad again. I left my house at 14. I would couch surf for, like, two, three, four, five months. Come back, we'd fight so bad that my little brothers would be like, go home. Like, get the out. Like, don't. You can't be here. So it was just crazy fighting from, like, 14 to 19 years old until I moved out of the. Out of my city. So me. To have kids was really petrifying because I was like, my. My thought around fatherhood was, if they don't listen, stop the. Out of them. Yeah, like. Like, that's how you implement discipline. You just stop them, whip them with a belt.

[Rich Summers]

Grew up. That was normal. Like our. I remember, like, having friends, like, in the neighborhood. I go to their house and, like, I remember going to their house and, like, you know, they get spanked. They get spanked. They get. They get. They get hit with a belt. Like, that was. That was normal not that long ago. Yeah, see, I'm not that old.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

I don't. With that dude. Like, I grew up and that caused a lot of anger for me as a kid, because it was.

[Rich Summers]

Today you don't see that. Well, I see you don't see that at all today. I feel like.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

See, I think that's a good thing to a degree, but I think it's. It's gotten too far in the other direction because I don't believe in spanking your kids with a belt or a weapon, because there's no justification of that.

[Rich Summers]

Like, what about a fly swatter?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

See that? Dude, I got that too. Right? I got that too. I got the. The stick from the yard as well.

[Rich Summers]

Okay.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

I'm talking about, like, garden hose type. Like, there are some things that. Yeah, dude, there was some crazy things that happened. So I'm like, I don't believe in the spanking, but I do believe in discipline, and I feel like that's what slipped a little bit. So for me, having my kids, a big shift in me was number one realizing that, oh, yo. Stops with me. Like, there's a quote that says a burning forest fire will burn its way through every generation until one person stops, looks up the hill, and says, enough. So, like, that was me and my family. Like, no more. Like, this shit's done. No more drinking, no more drugs, no more around, no more acting stupid. No more disciplining our kids because they won't listen. No more beating them in a submission because they don't want to do things the way you say they want to do them. No. Like, this is how it's going to be. So that was, like, almost an evolving moment for myself. It felt good, but then the other side of it is, like, it's just. Everything's more fun, man. Like, I love my kids. Like, all I want to do is spend time with my kids on a daily basis. So I grind my face off, but I'm like, nothing compares to going home and then seeing your little boy or little girl run up to you and say, I love you.

[Rich Summers]

That's.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

So my boy's three and a half, dude. And he's the funnest thing ever. I literally got a photo for my wife yesterday while we were traveling, because he loves Spider man right now. So he's not only running around in a Spider man costume, he's running around with a Spider man cape and a Spider man hat. He's just going, everything. Knocking everything over. It's the cutest thing in the world to me, dude. So I think it's. It just makes life more fun. Like, you have them.

[Rich Summers]

Do you think it makes you a better entrepreneur?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

[Rich Summers]

Why?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Because the time that you have to work is the time that you have to work, and then as soon as you're with your family, you have to put that phone away.

[Rich Summers]

So it forces you to be more efficient with your time as long as

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

you're respectful and diligent, where a lot of entrepreneurs aren't. And this is why I shit on them online. Again, the statement of, I'm an entrepreneur and I work so hard for my family. Only matters if you actually spend time with the family. And a lot of them don't. So they'll have kids and then they'll be like, oh, I gotta grind for the family. Like, homie, you make a million dollars a year. What do you mean you gotta grind for the family? 10 million a year, 20 million a year. None of it matters anymore. Like, that kid doesn't need better shoes. They need you to be present for 30 goddamn minutes with your phone. So I think having a kid makes you an exceptional entrepreneur because the time that you have with them is time with them. And the time you have with work has to be on work.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah. Because so forces you to turn it

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

off when you're not turning it off. And it's hard.

[Rich Summers]

Like, it's very hard to turn it off.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

But, dude, that's why.

[Rich Summers]

But I'm pretty good at it. Like, when I.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

When I need to, I give My away now.

[Rich Summers]

You do?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yeah. So if I'm with, with my wife

[Rich Summers]

or with you give her your phone.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yeah. I let my kid play with the camera function because he loves cameras. Or I give my wife to my phone to my wife because if I don't I'm just.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Checking all the time.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah. And, and how long will you like be without your phone?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

I would say in the morning between 7:30 when they start to wake up. Because I wake up at 3:45 4 in the morning now. Go to the gym, get home for like 6:30, I shower. Then my son gets up, daughter gets up. I'll have between 7 and 9 in the morning where it's just family time. Then I go grind my face off until around 5:35 45 depending on the day. And then it's 5:35 45 until 7:30pm when bedtime starts where I'm just family time bro. And everybody can go themselves.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah, that's nice. And then, and then after the kids go to sleep.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

No then it's 100 spending on my wife. We're both just hang out, maybe we'll talk, maybe we'll just watch a show. But dude, we don't go to bed until usually like I would say 9:45 to 11, especially with the new kids. So again I'm only pushing like four to six hours of sleep a night.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah. How do you deal with. Because obviously as we grow there's more people that want your time and time is like the most valuable resource. Right. And you really got to protect it especially during seasons. Right. So we were joking earlier today I was, I was shooting some content with Brian Oscar and they're like I had like 1600 unread text messages in my phone and I'm like dude, like if I. And the reason I have that is because I'm like if I. If all I did was respond to people that are texting me all day and in emails I wouldn't have time to do anything.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yeah bro. 691 unread text messages. Yeah, I have no idea. I don't know who they are. Yeah, I got my homies that I text on everybody. Yeah, no idea who this motherfuckers are bro. If I go to the email, the only reason why I've only got 170 unread emails is because we have five emails and my assistant hasn't caught up with it today. That's it. But I'm the same way. I just, I don't unless it is prominent for my Close friends or my family or the business or things like this where I'm now trying to get myself out there more talk more collaborate more, explore more. I just don't do it.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah. So I was telling them. I'm like, a lot of this game is really just like being able to prioritize and like understand and filter really quickly, like what's important and what's not a priority. And then all the other stuff, it's just like you just let it go. You know, some of these fires that are happening in the background, you're like, dude, like you just gotta let them burn. You know, it is what it is. But. But there's always something that's going to move the needle and like, knowing really quickly what thing is going to move the needle is very important in this game. But anyway, so dude, I just looked up the stat while we were talking. So Michael Sartain's been on the podcast a couple times. He talks about this. I want to hear your thoughts. So 25% of men in America, so one out of four men in America go an entire year, 365 days without a sexual partner. They don't have a sexual option. Meaning basically, one out of four men just don't have the ability to have a sexual partner. What are your thoughts on that when you hear that?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Is it that they don't have the ability or they just haven't?

[Rich Summers]

No. No woman wants to sleep with them.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

No one wants to sleep. Like it's proven that they. Nobody wants to sleep with them.

[Rich Summers]

Correct.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yeah. I feel like you just gotta work on yourself. Right. Because like my instinct automatically is why? Well, they probably don't want to sleep with you because of X. Are you hygienic? Do you take care of yourself? Do you look good? Do you dress well? Do you care yourself well? Are you respectful? What's your situation like? It's rarely that you're just broke and no one wants you because you don't make money. Because every person I've ever met in my life, regardless of how successful they are or how big the woman is or big the man is, money is usually not the main conversation at all. It's character, it's personality, it's how they carry themselves. LeBron 5 6. My girl's five, eight and a half. I met her broke as twenty thousand dollars in debt. Five thousand dollar overdraft. She fronted our rent for three months. I moved into her apartment two weeks into knowing each other. Like money doesn't have anything to do with it. Yeah, anything to do with it.

[Rich Summers]

So you were that guy when you started dating?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

I was that dude.

[Rich Summers]

You didn't have anything to provide.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Broke ass dude. Nothing to provide. Nothing to provide.

[Rich Summers]

But again, so she, she's, she's your day one.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Oh yeah. She read on me like she, she sent me a video the other day that said I took a bed on my husband. He was nothing. And the bet finally paid off and I was like, I with you, baby. Because I'm like, I retired her from a job in 2019 as well. But besides the point, I think it's, it's right now if you're not having sex or you don't have a sexual partner because you don't want one. Dope dude. I went celibate for six plus months to get out of my situation, to cut out the drugs, to work on my fitness, to change my life. Six months after I went celibate, I met my girl that I'm still with today 10 years later. But if it's not from a lack of want, it's, it's not from a lack of need. It's a lack of want. Like you can't do it. You know how easy it is to work on yourself. Like you don't need money. Just go get in shape, go to the gym.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Diet a little bit, work out a little bit, Walk every day and you'll become a more desirable individual.

[Rich Summers]

One of the books that Patrick by, David wrote, very good book, it's your next five moves in business. But PBD talks about how there was a stage early on in his career where he gave up sex until he made his first million dollars. And he literally was like, I am not going to have sex until I make my first million dollars. And you know, sometimes you got to sacrifice for the things you want. Otherwise the things that you want become the sacrifice. And he talks about that. And I think that that's a good lesson for a lot of men out there listening to this. Because let's face it, man, if you're single, you're setting up dates, you're going out, it's a full, it can be a full time job, just, just managing the setting, updates, talking to females. And then a lot of these dates that you set up, there's going to be drinks involved, glasses of wine, and then that's, that's an entire, the next, that's, that's the next day where you're operating at, you know, 40, 50 of your, your normal capacity. And so it's a big distraction. It can be a full time job. And so I think, you know, PBD's example, it's like, hey, if you, you want to really dial in and like, like lock in, you got to sacrifice certain things for a season in order to work on yourself to improve yourself. And then as a function of that, ironically, you will attract higher quality partners into your life. But also to your point, it's like for the one in four men out there that don't have the sexual option, it's like, well, go work on yourself. The cool, the cool thing about being a guy is like you could be 5 foot 3 and become Jeff Bezos and have all the high quality options that you could ever ask for. And so it really goes to show, like, yeah, like that's the beauty of like, of growth and progress. I always say happiness stems from growth and progress. The second we stop growing, the second we stop progressing as the second we're no longer happy. Most of us are wired that way as humans, you know.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

And so that's my favorite. Yes.

[Rich Summers]

And so like, why would you not want to continue growing and progressing and improving yourself? I always say it's, it's never too late to reinvent yourself, dude.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

And it's incredibly easy to. It literally stems from you taking care of you, which makes no sense as to why you wouldn't want to do it. Why would you not want to eat better so you feel better? Why would you not want to work out so you feel better? Why would you not want to make your bed so your room doesn't look like a piece of shit? It's funny, a lot of people, again, like to blame the world for how they currently feel and what is going on when they're all in control of the simplistic actions. It takes no money and no time for you to walk every day. That's literally it. Walk around your house, walk down the street, go for a walk outside. It literally is what, 10, 15 minutes that every day, 365 days a year, you're a new person, you'll slim up, you'll feel better, your health will be better, your cardiovascular health will be better, and you'll start attracting your people again. Me, cutting out all drinking, all drugs, all women. Six months later, not only did I meet my wife of today, of 10 years, but I'm business partners with Brian. I met Brian too. That was after the six months of no more drugs, no more alcohol, no more girls, nothing. I was just an iron worker, grinding, working and eating right, going to the gym. That was it. And it was because I Reached a point in my life where I didn't know what I could control anymore. I was like, I hate everything. I'm twenty thousand dollars in debt, five thousand dollar overdraft, nothing going for me. I'm addicted to substances. I'm drinking all the time. I need to change. So I went sober, off everything, cut out women, deleted all the dating apps. I had a lot. My wife knows I was a man whore in the past. That's how it was. I went complete cut off from everybody and all I did was work out, work. That was it. Because I could control what I put in my mouth and how I move my body. I couldn't control anything else because I had screwed my life up. Six months later, met my best friend and business partner that we've generated, what, 47 million in sales now, and I met my wife. All because I just focused on me. It wasn't about trying to go find, it was about attracting. I think that's where the conversation gets muddled. People hear, like, attract your tribe or attract success to you, but nobody knows what that means. Well, it's just about working on you and then paying attention to the opportunities that get presented in front of you.

[Rich Summers]

That's so good. I would say certain doors don't open for you until you become the version of yourself that can walk through them. And, and sometimes we're not ready to work, walk through certain doors, and we're certainly not ready to attract certain opportunities because, I mean, let's face it, like, I know for me, with all the stuff we're doing right now, it's like three years ago, four years ago, I didn't have the ability to have access to these types of opportunities because I wasn't that guy yet. I wasn't and I didn't, I didn't know it. But now looking back, I'm like, yeah, I wasn't that guy yet. You know what I mean? Okay, so I want to transition here. You have a lot of really interesting concepts and a lot of viral clips on your social media here that I want to, I want to go through kind of rapid fire and get your thoughts on a lot of these. And, and by the way, if you listen to this, I suggest all the listeners go check out Cole on Instagram or TikTok at Cole Lewis da Silva. But is your middle name Louis?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Dude, that's the first time you, anybody's ever got my name Correct.

[Rich Summers]

Okay.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

100.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, shout out to Lauren. She did a good job with this prep right here.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

It's all broken down with dashes. Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

So anyhow. Oh, by the way, I'm curious, what does the wolf mean?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

It was a nickname I got when I was younger. So it stemmed from the wolf mentality was just like how I played football. So again, I just got that dog is what we used to say, because again, five, six, that was 150 pounds in football. I played outside linebacker, linebacker, full fullback for a couple games, and then DN for a couple games, which makes no sense, but I just hit hard, ran super fast. So the dog mentality type things came out. But then when we started fitness coaching, we were running a fitness coaching team with seven trainers. And then we would do challenges like fall into shape, spring, spring into shape, all these different things. When we do a challenge, all of us bring on 50 people. Well, I wanted my people to feel something different, so I called all my people Cole's Wolves. So if you look up a hashtag on Instagram, Kohl's Wolves, you'll see people who used to tag that all the time when I was fitness coaching. So they just started calling me the Wolf of Kohl's Wolves. And then it just stuck. And then it became the motivational name we created. We created that as a speaker name across all social media platforms.

[Rich Summers]

That's dope. I like it, man. I like it. Speaking of football, we got. We had a guy coming to the yacht workshop tomorrow. He was a starting quarterback in the cfl.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Oh, fuck.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah. Yeah, he's retired now. Now he's investing in real estate and in business and all that sort of stuff. But he was. Yeah, he's turning quarterback for. I want to say. I don't probably gonna butcher this. I want to say maybe Calgary, they have a professional team.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

They do, but I have no idea.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

No clue. Okay. It's called the cfl, right?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

It is definitely called the cfl, but I don't know, I'm like, I'm probably the worst, like, country sports team rider ever. The only thing I know is Toronto Blue Jays and the Maple Leafs because they're from my home province. And I'm like, I gotta ride for my own team. Regardless of a dog shit they are on a yearly basis.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. All right, man. You ready to rock?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yep.

[Rich Summers]

Okay. What comes first, your wife, your daughter, or your mother?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

My wife, because my wife is the individual that I chose. She also took a bet on me before anything. My daughter just showed up here, obviously, after we brought her into the world. And even though I love my mom, my mom and myself went through a lot of hard Things. And they raised me to take care of my family. Well, my wife and my daughter are my, My, my main family now.

[Rich Summers]

That's powerful. That's powerful. What does she bring to the table? Argument doesn't make sense.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

That argument pisses me off because I think it's created by a bunch of beta men who want to buy into this red pill society bullshit where women need to do certain things in order to bring things to the table. My wife never had to bring anything to the table, regardless of the fact that again, she's the one who fronted our rent. I moved into her 600 square foot apartment when we met. The entire goal was I'm going to become successful enough to give you everything that you wanted. And I know that you want to be a mom and you don't really have any other goals right now, so I'm going to make sure that you don't have to do shit. And I retired her in 2019. She is now a full time mom to my two beautiful children. And I told her, if you want to start a business, I got you. You want to do nothing other than raise some chickens on a house that we're going to buy in the country, Dope. I got you. That's my duty as the man. Protect and provide. I don't need my woman to bring anything other than safety and being my soundboard.

[Rich Summers]

When you retired your wife in 2019, did you guys already have your first kid?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

No.

[Rich Summers]

Okay.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

No, I.

[Rich Summers]

Well, my girlfriend, we don't have kids, but I've given her the option like to work or not work.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Hell yeah.

[Rich Summers]

And she doesn't work.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Good.

[Rich Summers]

And I'm like, hey. I'm like, hey, you want to start a business? I'll help you start a business. You want to start a side hustle? I'll help you with it. Whatever you want to do. So now she. She raises her puppy.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yep.

[Rich Summers]

And I like that.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Dude. Poppy mom. Yes. Dude. That's the same.

[Rich Summers]

Yes.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

We had a pit bull.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah. Which is pretty cool. She wants to get into Shelby Saps Cell Academy.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Oh yeah. Yeah. She always good. We're tied up with her with a bunch of different. Are you as well? Yeah, we've. We've sent a lot of people.

[Rich Summers]

We just hired a girl from the Shelby SAP Sales Academy and. And she's come in.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Bro, they're dogs. Those girls are dogs, bro. They're push it hard. Yeah, I like them a lot. Yeah? Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah. I almost think like there's like there's a. You know, because we sell a lot of most. Most of our avatars to men, I would say like 68, 70 men. But I think when you got, like, a good, like, a female that's, like, not afraid to ask the tough questions. I think guys are like, oh, well,

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

it's because no man wants to look like a broke boy with no cash. Dude, do you want to hear a crazy sales track? I'm not going to tell the person's name because I don't want to expose. I don't know if he wants me to talk about this, but I know of a fitness coaching company that brought on a sales team. The sales team fired all the men and brought in attractive women between the ages of like, 25 and 32. So halfway through the call, there's seven of these ladies. Halfway through the call, we're talking, and she'll go, rich, can you stand up for a second? You stand up. Can you lift your shirt up? And you lift your shirt up. And then they don't say. They just go, yes. And then all. They always. They always go, what? What are you writing? And they go, oh, me and Cole talk about it after. And then you sit down, bro. Their sales closing rate went from like a 20 to 30 to an 85 plus. I believe it because all the men go that, I'm sick of being fat. This girl judged me. And they all started buying like crazy. And all they did is they put a detractive woman on the other side of the camera and told the man

[Rich Summers]

to stand up in the camera.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

That's the same script, same process, same payment link, all of it.

[Rich Summers]

Dude, that's crazy.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yeah. Because my.

[Rich Summers]

It makes talk about a hell of a discovery face. Yeah.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Fucking crazy, dude. Oh, is this. What do you mean, lift my fucking shirt up, dude? Done. Game over.

[Rich Summers]

Damn.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Game over, dude. But I'm like, that's exactly it. The girls are dogs, man.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

These guys don't want to feel weak.

[Rich Summers]

That's so good. That's so good. All right. Why do kids only cry when they're alone with their mom?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

I heard this on a TikTok once, and I loved it. It was the fact that the mom is the safest place for the kid, so the kid feels the most at home, safe to be able to express all emotions. Because when they're out with the nanny or out at the school or out with friends, they don't know how people are going to react. Are people going to tell me to shut the up, be quiet, hit me, push me, ridicule me, make fun of me, where I went on with mom, no matter what, whether it's the middle of the night, middle of the day, regardless of what's happening, if I cry and I lose my mind, I met with a nurturing soul. Even the dad. Like, I would see myself as a very nurturing dad. But me and my wife have sat down and said, I'm willing to be the bad guy because I need him to make sure he understands he can't treat you bad or anybody else bad. Like, it's your job to raise our boy into a boy. It's my job to turn my boy into a man. Like, that's the way that we run it. But at the same time, if he falls down, hurts himself, he doesn't run a dad. He runs a mom. Because mom is the nurturing soul at all times. All right? The only time that you will get unconditional love in this world is from your mom. That's usually pretty powerful.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah. Yeah, right?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

If we look at unconditional love throughout the entire world, it is usually only stemming from mom to kid.

[Rich Summers]

I've never thought about that. So. So do your kids never cried with you?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

They will. 100. Like, they definitely do. But I would say if we look. If we looked at it on a stem of, like, 10 times out of 10, my boy's running to me three out of 10 times where he's running to my wife. At least 10. Like, it's happening most of the time. The only time that he'll pick me is if he doesn't see mom in the room. And he's like, dad, come here. I might give him a big hug and stuff. Yeah. Where me. He'll just tough it out, grunts it off. Dude. I'm like, yeah, you good dog.

[Rich Summers]

Come on, let's go. All right, so next up, you say the way you treat your wife becomes your children's standard in life and in their relationship. What do you mean by that?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

When my son watches me give my wife a kiss in the morning, he'll then run up, push me out of the way, and give my wife a kiss when we go to the store and he sees me buy flowers consistently. Now, whenever we go to the store, he's like, are we going to get flowers for Mom? Let's get these ones, let's get these ones. Let's get these ones. He will literally mimic everything that I do to his mother to a T. So if I want my son to grow up as a respectful man to treat women well, all I need to do is treat his mom well. That's it. When I walk in the house, I say, hi, babe. How are you? Tell me about your day. What was the favorite part of your day? We then started doing that with my son. Now at the end of the day, we don't say anything. It's nighttime. He'll look at mom, grab her by the face, give her a kiss on the forehead. Mom, what was your favorite part of the day? And that alone was just stemming from habitual reframing. If I do it consistently and I show him what to do, he will do it.

[Rich Summers]

Open the door. Be a gentleman.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yes.

[Rich Summers]

Provide.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yes.

[Rich Summers]

Don't split the bill.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yes. Kids will literally follow in your footsteps. Dude.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah. Yeah, that's really good. Never stop dating your wife. That's. That's one thing that a lot of guys that have been married for many years, they say, never stop dating your wife.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Well, and that's. That. That's the very important thing. But also the hard thing when you have kids. That's another thing that if you guys do decide to have children.

[Rich Summers]

And I could see that a little bit. I mean, even with our Pupp puppy, it's hard, bro. Now the puppy's old enough to where we can. We can take her everywhere with us. But, you know, the first four months, the pup. The dog doesn't have all the vaccines, so we can't take the dog out. And so, you know, that was. That was a little bit tough. And then it was like a lot of, like, you know, early morning dogs up, and it's just. It's just. Yeah, it's a little bit different. But I could see. I could see a little preview of what it's like having kids.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

It's definitely hard. Like, it's one thing that I'm very bullish on is never allowing people to say stupid around me when it comes out of kids, like, oh, you can't travel or you're not gonna be able to do this. I don't believe in any of that. My kid just turned three and a half. He's been in nine countries. Like, we traveled the entire world with him when he was a baby. We're gonna do the same thing.

[Rich Summers]

How many countries?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Nine.

[Rich Summers]

Damn, dude.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

He's been everywhere, like, and people eat that up. Because when you travel all around the world, I'm assuming you've been to a lot of places in the world, correct?

[Rich Summers]

A decent amount.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

You don't see bleach. Bleach, blonde hair and blue eyes, dude. So we got, like, Balinese ladies just picking them up and bawling and walking away with Them. He comes back with, like, 12 ladies on his hip, feeding them watermelon by the.

[Rich Summers]

That's crazy.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

It's hilarious, bro. So he loves it. So, like, I don't believe in that type of stuff, but one thing that is definitely prominent is it's hard to date your partner when you have a kid because, number one, the mom is overly attached to the children, or at least my wife is, which I love about her. Yeah, she literally feels.

[Rich Summers]

I think that's attractive.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Overwhelmed. I love it, dude. She's the. I. It's funny because we got a quote that I put up on Instagram, and she's like, don't post those things. Like, stop. And like, I can't do it, dude. And it's a quote card. And I'm like, every time I see my wife, mom, my kid, I just want to make her a mama. Three, mama, four, five. I'm like, buckle up, baby.

[Rich Summers]

Like, it's.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

It's the most attractive thing in the world to me. Like, I see it, and I'm like, you're the most amazing mom I've ever seen. I love it. But it's hard to date in that moment because. Okay, well, then you got to find the nanny. You got to find someone to look after both kids. But then you also got to make sure that the bedtime is good to go and the food timing is right. And does she feel good enough to leave the baby? Like, we. Our second kid is only four a month. Four and a half months now. Like, so, like, she's 100 reliant on mom. She doesn't need that at all.

[Rich Summers]

So. So having a couple nights where you gotta sit or come in so you could do, like, a date night. That's. That's important.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yeah. Simple. Or even, like, guys. Do you guys do that to a degree. With the form, Are you just kind of shooting it hard right now? Yeah. With. Before we had our second baby 100, we had the nanny come in with the new baby. She's got to be attached to mom every, like, couple hours because it's focused on breastfeeding, not bottle feeding. So all we try to do is just simple things, like whether it's me coming in with some flowers, some. Some chocolates, some food. We watch the show, we'll try to play some cards. We'll try to do something in the house. Like, something like dating doesn't always need to be. Let's go do something extravagant. It's just spending quality time with the person that you want to be with.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah. Is. Is there Is there much nightlife and things to do in Kelowna?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

No, no, dude. The nightlife in Kelowna is you go to one of the top six restaurants, which are virtually all the same. It's a random nice steak restaurant. Quotations very much needed when it comes down to nice steak restaurant. Other than that, there's like little things. Like there's an arcade. That's dope. And I'm a little kid at heart, so I love that. There's go karting, which is dope. Same type of thing. I would say the. The most fun thing to do would be something around the lake, but I don't know, like, how many times you've been in the ocean the last couple months?

[Rich Summers]

Oh, I love being on the water. That's all. We're gonna be on the water tomorrow.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

See, with the lake? Yeah, bro, I don't. With the lake water that much, somebody. I don't really go, but I'm an ocean body. So, like, what we do the most is traveling. I would say, like, how me and my wife really date each other is we plan out the travel, dude. Like, we're going to be doing a trip to Paris and Belgium. Okay. Over the next couple weeks.

[Rich Summers]

Here, come on. Chocolates. You like chocolates?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Apparently they're the ones who invented french fries. I'm. I'm gonna get fatty over.

[Rich Summers]

I love it. I love it. All right, next up. You say A players shouldn't have to pick up the slack for B and C players. What do you mean when you say

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

that a good manager and owner should fire all the BNC players, period. Because if your air players are consistently having to pick up the slack, eventually they will get burnt out, lose their minds, and then I will pay them more money to leave you or you will pay them more money to leave someone else. It's how it works. Because the big dogs in this game understand how the game's played. Talent is hard to find. Talent who wants to work hard and be a part of a company culture is hard to find. So if you don't pay them well and make them feel like they are part of the culture, they're going to dip out. And if every time they show up to work, they have to see some doormat not put in work that they have to pick up for consistently, and you allow it as the manager, you're a shitty boss. And not only should we fire the BNC players, we should fire you. That's my true thoughts, dude. Like my best employee. We. I've had multiple conversations with my Best employee, telling her you're not allowed to pick up the slack for the people under you because I need to see who I can fire. Like, I love you. She'll get on 30, 40 calls on a weekly basis. One on one calls, solving problems here, solving these problems, jumping to our sales process. Even though she's my second in command when it comes to delivery, she wants to solve everything. But then next thing you know, I'm like, what's this coach doing? What? Why did this fly under the radar? She's like, well I just solved it because I didn't want you to get mad. Like, let me get fucking mad. Like let me fire this person.

[Rich Summers]

What's the, what's the best way to attract A players?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Be one yourself. First and foremost, I think in order to attract A players, you need to be an A player. But that's a little bit broad in the statement. So what I would say is document your journey and be who you truly are. Because you can't really fake it. Like you can't try to be a type A if you're not type A. You can't pretend to be a hard worker if you're not a hard worker. So I think number one, the best thing that you could do to grow a company around social media is document who you are on social media, your thought processes, your actions. But on top of attracting A players, you need to go into the mindset of the hiring through hire fast, fire faster. So you're willing to move through talent to figure out what's happening, but you also need to be willing to part with your fucking money, which I don't think a lot of people are.

[Rich Summers]

What do you mean when you say

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

that they want to hire the cheapest talent to save their back end profit margins, but then they don't realize, number one, A players aren't cheap and number two, all you're going to do is waste more money trying to consistently go and time.

[Rich Summers]

Yes, and time.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

So I think in order to attract them again, you got to be willing to part with some cash. But you have to be that person. Like A players aren't going to stand around for your. They're not going to wait for you to do what you said you were going to do. They're not going to wait for you to follow through on the actions you had to take. They're not going to wait for you to show up and lead the team how you're supposed to be leading the team. Like the A players are supposed to be there so you don't have to put as much work in. At least that's how I look at it. I hire people for the positions I don't want to be in because they're better than me. Well, if they're better than me in sales, but not in content, then I need to be on my best in content so they have opportunities for more sales.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah, I'll add one more. I think, I think having a con plan that or a bonus structure that creates an alignment of interest for them to win when, when you win as a company. Right. So for example, you know, we're shooting a podcast right now. As soon as we get done, my media team will chop up these clips. They get bonus out at the end of every month based on the performance of these clips. So any, any video that gets a million views, they get a thousand dollar bonus at the end of the month. 500,000 views, 500 bonus, so on and so forth. On the hotel side, I give equity to the team members that of course they got to earn it in the hotels that we acquire. Right. An equity position in the hotels. And then even on the hospitality side, we're managing these hotels. Right. Guests checking in, checking out. We're driving five star reviews. And so those folks that work on that arm of the business, they're getting bonus out every single month on the profitability of the hotels. The review averages that we're driving in all the hotels. Because I'm not happy to do that because those are the metrics that drive

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

the company that actually push everything forward.

[Rich Summers]

Yes.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Do you mind if I go deeper than that?

[Rich Summers]

Yeah, of course.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

How do you guys structure the bonus structure when it comes out of views? We've actually talked about that. So I run a media team of seven, eight people and I've created bonus structures.

[Rich Summers]

And these seven or eight are working on your payroll directly. They're not third party.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yeah, all me. All me. So the way that I run the breakdown of my media team is I give them compensation based off the monetization of the platforms. So if we bring in a certain amount of money, you guys make 15% to 20% on top of everything that we make, you bring in 100 grand the month. In monetization, you get to cut off the top.

[Rich Summers]

Now, when you say monetization, do you

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

mean because Facebook brings us in money and views.

[Rich Summers]

Got it. You don't mean, hey, this video led to X amount of leads that bought our back end?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Well, see, that's something that I haven't been able to implement because as we were having a conversation Even before the podcast, I'm not the acquisition guy. So we just started monetizing four months ago. So I didn't have a track record, I didn't have a lead magnet. I don't know how to attribute. We also didn't have any sales anything. So realistically, just to break down numbers for you, I talked about this, my media team before I took a bet on myself 15 months ago when I hired my media team. Since then I've spent 419 to $429,000 on the team to produce what we produced with zero return until five months ago. Because I just took that bet. I was like, it's time to go pro. Let's figure it the out. Took all my own money and was like, it's time to build the personal branding and let's scale it out. So then when we finally got monetized, I was like, okay, it's game time. Like, let's start using these views to drive back into the team. But bonus structure is a hard thing for me because I don't know how to track it. Like how would you.

[Rich Summers]

So how, how we do it. Yeah, and ours is pretty simple. So it's, it's very simple. So. And they, they track it themselves.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

And then.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Well, of course, because.

[Rich Summers]

And then one of the team members that approves all the bonuses and, and sends out the payroll, she double checks it. Now it's simple. So they just track it. So any videos for the, the whole month, they hit a million views, they get a thousand dollar bonus. 500, 000 views, 500, 250, 250. And we even go down to a hundred thousand views, 100 bucks. And so they track it all. And so when we get out of a podcast like this, you know there's going to be a lot of clips. And so now they're fighting over like who gets to edit the best clips. They spend an extra five or ten minutes on the best B roll, the best hook, all that sort of stuff. And then we'll run a media L10 meeting every single week, Monday and we have a scorecard, weekly KPIs that we go through. And it's everything from, you know, total amount of views across the different channels, number of new followers across the different channels. And then we'll break it down from the different channels like TikTok, Instagram, how many views, what was the reach, how many shares, how many pieces of content did we split, Test throughout a given week and then they have a KPI to where they each have to split Test X amount of videos per week. And if they don't hit that KPI, then they're not eligible for the bonus. And so if they're short at the end of the month, they have the ability to go and edit a few extra clips to get them there and then they're eligible for it.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

And then obviously you have each individual view tracked through the metrics that you make money on the other end.

[Rich Summers]

Say that one more time.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

So then you have a. I'm assuming you also obviously have a system that tracks. Okay, well, we gave out $20,000 in bonuses when it comes down to views this month. Month. But where did we make that money back in the back end from when it comes to the businesses we're currently running.

[Rich Summers]

Yes. Yeah. So we do track how much we're sending out in bonuses, but we don't, we don't have a way to like directly track, hey, like these videos led to like this and that because it's the content game's kind of a long term game, right? Like you, you, you spent years and years building a brand, right. But now you have the ability to go start whatever business or have whatever offer tomorrow and you're going to have customers and money coming in from it. Right? And so with what we're doing, it's like, hey, like we have back end offer, we have all the stuff that we're doing to monetize, but it's hard to like directly track the effectiveness and the success of a podcast that we do today. Right. And how much money that's going to bring in tomorrow because a lot of the. Yeah, it's, it's hard, it's hard to track that. Yeah, we don't track that part because

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

that's been the one hard thing for me because I want to implement a structure with the boys we're actually going to be opening up. I haven't actually talked about this publicly and I'm not going to name it yet, but I asked you about the boat thing. Well, I asked you about that because I want to start a content mastermind and I'm actually going to be doing it with my team because I was like, I don't know how to make you guys more money with this. So I'm just going to make you partners and we're going to build something dope as. Yes, we're going to create it like that. It was a second.

[Rich Summers]

I think that's dope, man.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

It'd be fun as I'm like, why not? Why not? My team's dogs like they're ruthless, dude. These guys will literally send me a photo at 1am with, like, three monsters. And they're just editing like crazy. I'm like, stop working. I just relax a little bit. Like, what are you guys doing? But I'm like, there's something to create a partnership where it's everybody wins. Like, we all make money together because it's more fun when everybody makes money.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah, 100%. 100%. Agreed. And I think when you create an environment where, like, your team members are now, you know, partners, it forces them to think as a business owner or as an investor. And so now they're thinking of, like, hey, what's going to be best for the overall profitability of the business? Not just, hey, like, how can I make my money and get out?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yeah, yeah.

[Rich Summers]

You know what I mean?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yeah. But again, that comes down to the A player conversation. Like, this is an A player conversation. Like, you can't do this with any BSC players ever, because those would get a little bit of money and they're like, five o', clock, dog. I'm good, dude. Chill and relax. But then they're bitching and complaining that they're not making money like the a players.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah, 100, man. No, I feel you on that. Okay, so you say, stop saying later, Just do it now. Men being forgetful. What do you mean by that?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

As a man? Let's be real. We get very wrapped up in one individual task. I'm not saying we can't multitask, but men aren't great at multitasking with things that they don't want to do. So I always say, as a man, just do the thing that you need to do for your wife right then and there, because you know you're not going to do it later for myself. The wife will come up and she'll ask a simple question. One recently was, can you please move the baby camera from this room to this room? Just screw it into the wall. Like, yeah, 100, I got you now. She asked me while I was doing something else, because I'm always doing something in the house, whether it's for the kids, whether it's me doing something on content or me actually working in my office grinding on the business. I was like, yeah, 100%, I got you gone. Like, I should have just did it then, because I'm literally not doing anything that's too pressing right then and there. Didn't do it. Two days later, I'm literally laying in our bed. I look over and I looked at the camera, but Then I could see through the camera. Oh, the camera's moved. Like, she did it. I literally was just like. And then she came in the room. I'm like, so the camera. She's like, yeah, go fuck yourself. And I was like, touche. Again. It's just. It's do it right then and there. Saying, I'll do it later is a waste of time and a stupid waste of your mental energy.

[Rich Summers]

Now, let me ask you this, though, because as entrepreneurs, it's like, dude, we're putting out fires all day every single week. Putting out fires, busy solving problems. And so obviously, we can't. We can't just stop and, like, and fix everything and address everything. So how do you stay focused on the important things? You're like, hey, I'm gonna just do this right now, versus all this other stuff where you're like, hey, this is not high priority right now. I'm gonna. I'll worry about that next week.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

I organize my entire day from beginning to end in Google Calendar. And if I say every single day, I can literally show you right now. Everything that I say I'm going to do for my wife gets put in my Google Calendar. So no matter what, by the end of the day, I get it done. So I remember to do it for her. Every single day is color coded based off of what I want to do, what is going on, my family time, my personal time, my calls, my podcast, when I'm going to eat, when I'm going to go to the gym, when I'm going to wake up, everything. So if I say I'm going to do something for you, because you just asked me, I might be busy. Go put it in my calendar. So my wife has access to my calendar now. She'll literally type that in there so I can get it done. Because I don't believe in the mentality of I'm an entrepreneur. I'm super, super busy. So I. I can't give all these things my time because that's a slippery stop. I agree with you. Like, I don't do the laundry in my house. I have a nanny come and help us, right? I don't mow my lawn. I have a personal assistant come and help mow my lawn. But, like, where's that end? So now I don't spend time with my family because it's overwhelming and tiring. I never help my wife around the house because it's overwhelming and tiring. I'm too busy because I'm putting out fires, so I can't serve my family I just don't believe in that. So I use my calendar to help organize my entire day. Now, there's obviously times that I slip, like we all do. We're human beings. But, dude, my calendar is rooted in our entire house, so I have access to it. My boy Daniel has access to it. My producer, my wife has access to it. We also have a calendar on the wall in our house called Skylight that has access to my Google calendar that she can add a link to. And my assistant has access to it and runs my entire calendar. I didn't book anything for this trip. Like, we talked about them. She planned it all. The car, the hotels, the travel, the podcast, the flights, home, all of it.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah, I like it. Now we just got to help her pick the right hotel.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yeah, she up on that. She up on that. Michelle, do better. That's good.

[Rich Summers]

That's good. Okay, so you got. You got another one. You say, I'm five foot six, laugh at short men, but hide from the scale.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

What do you mean by that?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Well, let's be real. It's not a secret that a lot of women or a lot of people out there on short guys. And I think it's a very conversation. It's a funny conversation because I produce a lot of content on being a good husband, a good father, a good entrepreneur. And then people find out that I'm 5 6, and they're like, how the do you deal with women on you? Like, bro, I didn't. It's not like I was 6 foot and I shrunk to 5 6. I've been 56 my whole life. A lot of people just don't understand how to be comfortable with themselves. Like, I never thought being short was a bad thing, so I just looked at it for what it is. If you look at the Internet, social media, there's not a shortage of clips of men going out there on San Diego catwalks or LA catwalks asking women, short men or tall men, fat man or skinny man, dad bought or fit bod. So I just did a video. I was like, a lot of women will on short men because they're short. But I guarantee you, if I put a scale in front of you, it doesn't even matter if you're a little bit overweight or if you're fat. You will not step on that scale. And the funny thing is that you can change how much you weigh. I can't change how tall I am. So all these men get on on a yearly basis because they're short. When they could be the most caring, amazing people in the world, but because they're short, they don't even get looked at. And a lot of men are insecure.

[Rich Summers]

Unless you become Jeff Bezos. He's five foot three, bro.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yeah, unless you become a Jeff Bezos. Five foot three, rich as. This is why I love that Rust song, Handsomer. Five, six, five, dude.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah, that sounds a banger.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

That's my favorite song. I always do whatever it comes on. I look at my wife, she's, like, shot up. I'm like, five, six for the money, maybe six, five, right? She's like, I hate you. I'm like, that's. That's exactly the mentality. I created that video because a lot of people. People like to. On the things that you can't change, because when you expose the things that they can change, it makes them feel insecure. So people used to make fun of me because I didn't have a hairline. I got it now.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah, you got it.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Supposed to make fun of me because I had a gap.

[Rich Summers]

You got the veneers now.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Got it now, dude. That's my real teeth. I brace three years, dude. Yeah, bro. So it was just like, I can't change who I am right now, bro. So I'm comfortable with it. And if you're not comfortable with you and I expose it and you get sensitive, all you're doing is proving my point.

[Rich Summers]

Okay, so next up, you say separate business and pleasure, but always be respectful and cordial. Cordial with co workers. What do you mean by that?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

I think there's a lot of people who are petty in the workplace. People like to be petty in the workplace because they don't like certain people and they don't like being around certain people, and they don't like working with certain people. I own a gym. I'll keep names out of it. There's been times where we've had to literally maneuver schedules. Take this girl off this shift and this girl off this shift and make these two work together, because these two can't work together. All of you, you're here to collect a paycheck because you got hired to do a job. Since when did you not be able to do your job because you don't like being in the room with him? Show up, do your work. Shut the up. Do the job, or I'll fire you and find someone else. As an employer, it's frustrating to see people in the workforce complain that they don't have money. You complain that the government is out to get them Complain that they're struggling in life, but then when they get to work, they're pessimistic, negative, lazy, and all they do is complain about their co workers. You're not there to win a popularity contest. You're there to work so you can pay your bills.

[Rich Summers]

Well, it's not prison life. No one's forcing you to be anywhere.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yeah, yeah, exactly. It's not prison. You don't have to be there. If you don't like your job, quit. It is literally that simple. And I've argued with people telling Blue in the face about this. Why can't I have responsibilities, downgrade them. I grew up with nothing. I grew up 45 minutes in the country in a trailer. I might have a nice home now. I could sell that tomorrow. The cars, the houses, the watches. It's all bullshit. Like, I just have it because I like it. But if I literally was not happy with my life and all I had to do is sell the house and move. Yeah, okay. Yeah. It's an easy trade.

[Rich Summers]

I'm curious for you, man. As we get into 2026 and the world that we live in is. Is moving faster and faster, we got AI happening, and it's disrupting a lot of ways that we're, you know, business is getting done. And then. And then you got a lot of different stuff going on, right? We got, you know, stuff in Iran right now. It's affecting oil prices, the world economy. There's a bunch of different things going on. But I'm curious for you, as you looking at 2026, 2027, what is the one quality trait that's going to separate those who get into business, become mediocre, fail, and the ones that actually get into business and actually build something special and build something big and meaningful.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Authenticity. Because you said the word meaningful in that statement. Authenticity to me is defined as you being who you truly are without any influence from the outside world. What do you like? What do you dislike? What do you want to do? What do you not want to do? I hate AI Now. I use AI because I'm not an idiot, and it helps me expand my brain. But I'm not scared of it. I'm not overwhelmed about it. I just see it for what it is. A tool to help smart human beings do more smart things and grow more. There's a lot of people that avoid it completely. A lot of people are using it to completely supplement their brain in ways that will never make sense to me. And I think authenticity is missing in a big part of the industry. As long as we're talking about what you said at the end there, which is meaningful. If you just want to make a dumb amount of money, there's a million things that you could do tomorrow and then you'll drop off the face of the planet in a year. We've seen it how many times entrepreneurs come in. This is why we have the stat of four out of every five businesses fail within five years. It's a proven stat across America and Canada. It's a real thing because people come in, sprint, make cash, dip out. So if it's just money, whatever, but meaningful businesses, meaningful lives, meaningful futures, authenticity above all.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah, I agree, man. I think in the world of AI becoming more and more prevalent, I think in person stuff, I think long form content like podcast conversations that we just had today, in person stuff is, is going to really be the differentiator.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

Because I think people want authenticity.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

We're craving it.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah.

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

It's the human connection.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah. Cole, I appreciate you coming on, man. Dropping so much game, so much value. This has been an amazing conversation. Where can the folks get in touch with you if they want to learn more?

[Cole Lewis Da Silva]

Just my Instagram. Tick tock. Other social media is Cole Lewis De Silva. Same on every page. There it is.

[Rich Summers]

There it is. And we'm excited. We got you on the yacht workshop tomorrow, my man. Maybe next time we'll do something up in Canada, north of the border. Tell, tell your boy Brian Mark, you better watch out, man. I'm coming. He is Cole the Wolf Da Silva. I'm Rich Summers, listeners. Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you guys on next one pe.