907. Q&AF: Overcoming Self-Doubt, Staying Sober In Business & Keeping Business When Relocating

Yeah, we're sleeping on the floor.

Now, my druid pox froze.

Fuck a bowl, fuck a stove.

Counted millions in a cold.

Bad bitch, booted swole.

Got her own bank rope.

Can't fold, just a no.

Headshot, case close, close.

What is up, guys?

It's Andy Prissela and this is the show for the realist.

Say goodbye to the lies, the fakeness, and delusions of modern society.

And welcome to motherfucking reality, guys.

Today, we have Q and AF.

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Now you can submit your questions a few different ways.

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That's DJ.

Hello, children.

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All right, what's up?

Happy Monday.

Yeah, yeah.

What are you laughing at?

Oh, you know.

Well, off-camera action.

That's all.

What do you mean?

Yeah.

I don't know what you're talking about.

What's going on, man?

Nothing, dude.

Yeah, another beautiful day.

Yeah, it sure is.

Dude, I checked my forecast this morning for this week, and it is rain every day.

Bro, I feel like we've gotten so much rain lately.

Like this whole, like since March to now, it's just been crazy.

A lot of rain.

A lot of rain.

Yeah.

It sucks.

Yeah.

It sucks.

We need a beach.

Listen.

Me and you.

You speedos

on a beach.

I am in.

I'm in.

I really, I don't care.

What's the best?

What's like, I don't know.

What's the best beach to go to?

Like,

I don't know.

Like, I want white sand.

You know what I'm saying?

The Gulf Coast, the Gulf of America, Gulf Coast.

Gulf of America.

Up there in the north part of Florida, Destin area has some beautiful beaches, the white sand.

You know, if you're looking for domestic beaches, I think that the

west coast of Florida has some very nice beaches.

Yeah.

Gulf side, Gulf of America side.

Yeah.

And then

on the other side of Gulf of America in Mexico, they have nice beaches as well.

There's some decent ones over there, too.

Yeah.

Yeah, there's a decent ones.

I like the Mexico beaches on the Gulf of America.

What?

No, we're being politically correct.

Yeah.

Actually, so it's fine.

Yo, dude, listen, I'm saying let's do it.

Okay.

I'm down.

Yeah.

I'm down.

You let me know.

Sick, man.

Well, it is Monday.

So you guys know what that means.

It's QA.

Make some people better.

That's right.

That's what we're going to do.

That's right.

And let's get it started.

We got a call-in.

Oh, we do.

Start with a call in.

Start with a call-in.

Start with a call-in.

Let's give our boy, Dylan, a ring

hello Dylan what's up my man what up DJ what's going on bro

oh dude fucking great now yeah oh that's nice that's nice what you up to

uh just uh on my way back from a friend's wedding oh sick sick awesome i got i got the big guy here what's up dylan how are you bro

i'm doing outstanding andy oh dude this is so fucking cool.

This is sick.

So, how was the wedding?

It was awesome.

Did he run off?

Did he run off?

They were waiting until married, so kind of a little bit.

Sick, man.

So, what can we help you with, bro?

Yeah, so just some background.

So, I played Division III football for a school in the Midwest called Wisconsin River Falls.

I stayed there all four years.

And then I luckily had

an opportunity to play.

I got invited to the Colts minicamp in May.

So

went there, you know,

did, was a little nervous at first, you know, just like how new everything was.

Unfortunately,

didn't make the team

left, got cut like that weekend.

But I've, you know, I've been draining my ass off, staying ready because, you know, it got that foot in the door and that just drove me back to you know try to get to that point and I'd really just been lifting working my ass off since since the season ended in November and my question is really uh

so like I'm a really self like motivated and really like determined athlete to get to the you know my dream and my destiny that I think that was you know like designed for me but I still struggle with you know self-doubt and consistently thinking that like what I'm doing isn't enough and I guess my question for you is like when you first started your business, what helped you get through those times where like, man, I don't know if I'm going to make it.

I don't know like if what I'm doing is enough.

Like is it all going to be worth it?

Yeah.

Okay.

Well,

I got some bad news for you, bro.

And that is this.

That feeling really never goes away if you're an ambitious person.

If you want to continue to grow, continue to get better, continue to evolve, which is required in entrepreneurship,

if you want to continue to innovate,

which is required, and adapt, which is required, you almost have to have a paranoid feeling about not being good enough.

Because what that does is that causes you to pay attention to every single detail and to make sure that all of your I's are dotted and your T's are crossed.

And a lot of people look at this attitude because it's uncomfortable and it creates anxiety.

And it's not this peaceful, calm feeling that, you know, you get to have when you're not working on important projects.

They think that it's a bad thing.

But the reality is, bro, is that having the feeling that you have is actually a very strong sign that you're going to be successful in business because the key to business long term is the ability to do the monotonous things at a high level and then continue to evolve and create and adapt to the ever-changing and fast-changing way that business is done.

So

a lot of people feel like, you know, man, what's wrong with me?

Because I'm always thinking about this or I'm always thinking about that or I'm always high strung or I'm always on edge.

But dude, that edge is exactly what allows you to continuously get better, which is the requirement of being in the

area of life, entrepreneurship that you have chosen.

You have chosen to be an entrepreneur.

And to be a successful entrepreneur, you by default have to be a high-level entrepreneur.

And to be a high-level entrepreneur, you have to be detail-oriented.

And to be detail-oriented, you have to feel a little bit insecure so that you notice the details that other people won't.

And so I would, I think you should think about reframing this

as a good thing as opposed to something that is hard to deal with.

I had this happen to me when I was about 12 years into business.

I was having a lunch meeting with a guy who was much further along in business than I was.

And I asked him when we sat down, I said, dude, when does it, when does it stop?

Like, when does it, when does that feeling stop?

When does it, when does everything feel okay?

And his answer was, right before you're about to lose.

And I'm like, fuck.

Yeah, I'm like, damn, dude.

Like,

that's some real shit.

And

I think the awareness that you have, brother, is an asset that most people don't have.

And

instead of you seeing it as something that you need to

get past or work through or deal with, I think you should look at it as, man, it's really good that I have this awareness because it allows me to see things that other people won't.

It allows me to operate at a higher detail.

It allows me to do the things that other people refuse to do or don't want to do because I want to win.

And I think it's a great quality to have.

Every single successful entrepreneur that I know personally that succeeds at a high level has this same

doubt, insecurity, feeling of not being good enough, even when they're, you know, even when they would be in a position that most people would say, you haven't made, they still carry that with them.

And what people fail to identify is that the reason they are in that position to, you know, be looked at and said, man, that person's got it made, is because they carry this feeling of doubt, paranoia,

I'm not good enough.

And then they take action against that.

Does that make sense?

Yeah, 100%.

Yeah, yeah, I understand everything.

Actually, you kind of said something similar in one of your recent podcasts with a guy that had a construction company, I think.

So this is definitely just to hear this firsthand is.

Bro, this is just the way it is.

I mean, look, I would love to be able to tell you.

Yeah, man, you know, eventually you're going to get this much money in the bank and you won't feel that way.

Or eventually you're going to get to here and you won't feel that way.

That's not been my experience.

In fact, I actually think it gets a little worse because as you grow,

it's not just about you anymore.

It's about your team.

It's about the company.

It's about people's families.

It's about their kids.

And when that responsibility really starts to weigh on you and it's not just about yourself,

I think that feeling actually gets a lot worse.

Like you're always thinking, fuck, could I be doing better?

Or am I letting these people down?

Or should I be doing this?

Or, you know, and by that time, I think you're a little more, like, I am definitely in a place where I accept that as part of my reality.

But I do remember

for a long time wishing that I didn't feel that way because it was so uncomfortable.

So,

you know, I think you'll acclimate more to it, but I think you could acclimate faster by understanding how valuable it is to your path.

100%.

Yeah, because I go by something that Nick Sabin always says that to get where you want to be, it takes what it takes.

You don't got a lot of choices.

And that's it.

And I mean, that's it, dude.

Obviously.

Yep.

Well,

yeah, man.

And sometimes it takes more for other people.

Sometimes it takes less.

Some people start off further along.

Some people start off further back.

Some people have a natural set of skills that allows them to move faster.

Some people have to develop those skills.

So the answer to everything is exactly what Saban says.

It's whatever the fuck it takes, man.

And

yeah,

and that's different for everyone.

And we can't make that, quote unquote, fair.

It's just what it is.

So,

yeah, brother.

I mean, I would say that you are very blessed.

for whatever reason to have that awareness in the beginning.

Because I think eventually you're going to look back and you're going to say the reason that I was successful is because I was paying attention to everything, because I cared the way that I cared.

And

it will become something, a quality that you very much so value and appreciate about yourself.

100%.

I appreciate it.

Yeah, brother.

All right, Dylan, man.

Go kick ass, man.

Yeah, Siri.

Yeah, I'm trying to, I'll just say one thing.

I just want to say that God bless you guys, man.

Like, I listen to your show every day at work.

I wake up at 5:15 and I listen to your podcast every day, every morning, cutting grass at a golf course, and just say that you guys have inspired me to think the way I think.

Like, Andy, like,

I listen to you every day.

Like, DJ, thank you to like, like, your whole team.

Like, you guys are,

like, you guys are doing and saying the work that not a lot of people want to say anymore because everybody can soften shit.

That's what you always say.

So, like, I just want to say I appreciate you guys and taking time out of your day to come talk to me.

And yeah, just keep doing what you're doing.

Well, bro, we do it so that guys like you will go out and fucking build what this country is supposed to be.

So that appreciation is neutral.

Thank you, bro.

Yes, sir.

All right, brother.

Well, have a good rest of your day, and we'll catch up with you soon.

See y'all too, man.

All right, see you, Dylan.

It's an interesting thing because I've noticed this.

I've noticed this, and I want to get your take on it because I don't know if it's a science to it, but why does it it seem that like a lot of people who are successful in business have a sports background or something what like what is that like is that a real thing I feel like yeah I think you know what I'm saying like yeah but I mean dude I think it's a

I think it's a very real thing um I don't know the numbers on it but well because all of the skills that you learn in sports translate to business in a different way.

You know, you've got to do a million reps to get competent in something.

You know what I mean?

Like if you start off with soccer, you don't know how to dribble.

You don't know how to, you know, take shots.

You don't, you don't know how to pass the ball.

Same thing in basketball.

Same thing in baseball.

I mean, dude,

to learn how to hit a baseball is a multi-year process.

Like you don't just stand up there at five years old and hit a baseball.

Like you start by hitting the ball off the T.

And when you swing, you don't even hit the ball.

You hit the T 400 times in a row.

Then eventually you hit the ball, right?

Then eventually you get to like where they toss it to you.

Then they, you know what I'm saying?

And it's a multi-year commitment to even be able to hit a baseball.

Somehow people forget that when it comes to their lives or their business or whatever.

But the reality of sports and business being parallel is about as close as you can get, both on an individual level and a team level.

To have a successful team, you have to do your job and you have to trust that the people on the field are going to do their jobs.

And if everybody does their jobs, you're going to win a lot more than you lose.

It's the same thing in business.

Yes, you could have a small business and it could be one or two people and one person, you, could carry the whole team.

But that does not work when there's 50 people, all right, or 100 or 500 or even 15.

You have to do your job and then you have to teach everybody else how to do their job and then everybody else has to do the job together to win.

And so, the

lessons on a macro scale are the same, and the lessons on a micro scale are the same.

You've got a guy on the baseball team who's staying out till four in the morning and not fucking practicing and not hitting.

Oh, and you know, at first he's still hitting 300, but then after two months of that shit, he's hitting fucking 180.

And you got to go to him and be like, Hey, you motherfucker, you're fucking it up for all of us.

Yeah.

Right.

And those are the same things that have to happen in business or on any team.

So, yeah, dude, I think it's very parallel

from both a micro and macro level.

And it's confusing to me

how more athletes don't understand this.

I was just about to ask you.

I was going to, but my question was going to be: so, like, I wonder why then so many athletes, even at the professional level or whatever, get out and then don't.

Like, why aren't they fucking killing?

You would think that they would just be killing it.

Remember, dude,

it's not always as it seems in sports.

You know, sometimes guys that are considered to be great are really only great because the team around them is great.

And then they believe that it's them that's great.

And then when they don't have a team, they don't do as good.

So,

you know, not every, you know what I'm saying?

So, like, there's guys who get paid a lot of money.

in sports because their team is fucking awesome and they're pretty good.

Okay.

And they just happen to be in a position where they get the credit.

But you remove the teamwork and they think, oh, I'm the superstar.

And then it happens to be that they aren't.

So there's all kinds of things that happen.

But, you know, it's very parallel.

This is why I think it's important for parents to really get their kids into sports.

You know, like, fuck, dude, even the physical

pain that you have to go through to be good at sports, the conditioning, you know, the training,

that shit all, you know, it, it all translates to real things in life, putting yourself in intentionally uncomfortable positions.

You know,

I really think sometimes, bro, it'd be easier to teach like

sixth graders how to be successful in business than it is adults because the adults have told themselves stories about why they can't do things, where these kids are just like, okay, I'll do it.

Yeah, you know what I mean?

They will, bro.

Yeah.

I feel like if you had like a fucking, like a little, little, little, little T baseball team, bro, they'd fucking crush you.

Yeah, but, but, but, like, it's, you know, adults tell themselves stories like this.

Like, you could take someone who understands the principles of teamwork, the principles of individual work, culture, leadership, mindset, and all these things.

And you could take someone like that

and,

you know,

pull them out of that environment.

And they will say, well, yeah, I was really good at

baseball.

I was really good at football, but business is just not something I'm good at.

And so they tell themselves these other stories even though the principles are are parallel you know like there's no

i think the biggest thing about business and entrepreneurship is that people think there's some sort of like

third-party approval that you have to be or club that you got to be invited into you know what i mean like yeah yeah you don't

There's nobody that's going to come along and say, hey, by the way, I see a whole bunch of good shit in you.

You could be fucking the next best entrepreneur.

That never happens.

And I remember thinking like when I started in business, that that would eventually happen.

Like the people who were further along than me would come to me and they would see something in me and they would say, I recognize that and you and you got it.

And that doesn't happen, bro.

You've got to like tell yourself that.

You've got to be able to look at other people and be like,

I could beat that fucking guy.

Or I'm as good as that guy.

Or what's, you know, I could be as good as that guy if I did what he did.

You know what I mean?

So I'm going to do what he does and I'll get better.

Like

kids will do that.

Yeah, they will.

You know what I'm saying?

Adults will have a story as to why they can't.

You know, adults are amazing justifiers, bro.

They can justify anything.

That's why, you know, Live Hard is such a valuable program, and 75 Hard is such a valuable program because one of the biggest things that it does is it brings awareness to the bullshit that you tell yourself.

It brings awareness to the internal dialogue that keeps you from doing the things you actually want to do.

You can see it and identify it very clearly, and then you know how to overcome it.

You know, there's a reason we say win the war with yourself because that's really the only war that matters.

That's real, man.

That's real.

Well, guys, Andy, let's get question number two.

This is a write-in.

Write-in question here.

Question number two, guys.

Hello, AND.

AND D.

Yep.

Yep.

I'm Anthony, 22 from Chicago.

Andy, I've been a stoner for five years.

Just graduated college, and I want to take my career in real estate and finance seriously.

How old is he?

22.

He's been chief in four minutes.

But as a self-proclaimed stoner, how do you maintain the discipline to stay sober in business?

I wouldn't say that I'm a stoner.

I would say that.

I'm a smoker.

Yeah, I mean, I like to smoke marijuana occasionally.

I did go through periods of my life where I was smoking daily, but that's not something that I, you know.

I don't brand myself a stoner.

I don't think that's that's cool, you know.

Yeah, I'm just honest with you guys.

Like, I don't drink because I think drinking is very hard for me mentally and physically.

So, instead, I like to smoke weed.

Um, it helps with my anxiety, it actually helps me think a little bit more clearly because what it does is it declutters my mind.

And to be honest, for me, um, I have some of the best

organization sessions regarding the ideas ideas that I have because I'm not thinking about anything else.

So,

you know, I don't have fucking Bob Marley pictures hanging on my fucking wall and shit.

You know what I'm saying?

Like, and some fucking, you know,

Bob Marley fucking ashtrays and shit.

I'm not growing dreads, bro.

Like, I don't think that, I don't think there's anything cool about that whole

lifestyle.

Like, you know, when you're making drugs or alcohol lifestyle, it's usually a problem.

So I'll start there.

The other thing is, is like, bro, you know, I didn't really start smoking.

I quit smoking from the time that I was probably like 20

until I was probably

38 or 9.

Wow.

Yeah.

Because I was so focused on what I was doing.

Now, at that time, I was drinking, which was probably worse.

But

I think had I not been drinking that entire time, I probably, I for sure would have progressed more quickly.

Now,

I will say that with saying this,

most of the time that I was drinking, I was drinking with people from our company.

And

I have a lot of fun memories of that.

And we had a lot of fun and a lot of good times together.

And so I don't regret it because those stories that we have are irreplaceable.

Like some of the guys that you guys follow, you know, up here at HQ, I got some funny fucking stories about those motherfuckers.

And they got some funny ones about me.

And those are my homies.

And I enjoy that part of my life.

So I don't like regret it.

It's just not good for me anymore.

So I just say that.

And I think that it's important for you young people to understand that like, dude, marijuana is very dangerous.

for your mental development until you're over 25.

The studies show that.

Dr.

Amon, who is like the world's foremost expert on brain development,

he talks about this.

And after the age of 25, marijuana is much less harmful for an adult.

So like, dude, what do you say it was 20?

22.

Bro, you need to quit that shit.

Like, you need to fucking get the fuck off of it.

You need to stop smoking weed.

You need to focus on your shit.

You need to let your brain develop.

And hopefully you didn't completely ruin it for the last five years of fucking weed smoking.

So my advice to you would be to fucking stop smoking weed because your brain will physically not develop the way that it's supposed to develop at that age um

now what was the main question he had just maintaining discipline to stay sober in business well do you want to be fucking retarded i'm being dead serious do you want your brain not to work do you want your brain to be fucking less development than your

less developed than your competitors Are you good enough to be able to smoke weed every day and beat everybody else at what they do?

Be honest.

Because the fucking truth is you're not.

So it comes down to do you actually want to win or do you not want to win?

Do you actually want the things you say you want or do you not want the things you say you want?

If I'm somebody who's, you know, not even in a fucking close to the stratosphere of where I want to be in my life, I probably would stay away from drugs and alcohol completely.

That's my opinion.

I've seen way more way too many people ruin their lives with substance abuse to think that like it's acceptable if you're trying to be a high achiever.

And in fact, most very high achievers that I know don't fucking smoke or drink.

Yeah.

All right.

A pretty straight age.

Yeah.

So and you know why?

Because they understand,

they are humble enough to understand that they are in a competition with other very smart people.

And all these people in real life,

in society, on the internet, they try to convince people that, you know, this isn't a competition and you're not in a competition.

Listen, dude, you are in a competition.

When you're in business, you are in the

biggest competition that there is.

When you're creating content and you're trying to be the best content creator, you're in a competition.

All right.

The nature of human existence is competition, whether it be,

you know, your personal life,

there's probably other people that were competing for your spouse.

Whether it be your business life, there's certainly other people that are competing for your job,

whether it be really anything.

Okay.

What's the nature of the Bible and church?

To be a better person.

That's a competition with yourself, with God.

Okay.

So this idea that there's no competition and that nothing's a competition is a faulty bullshit.

idea that's put out by people who want to opt out of competing.

They want to say, hey, man, I could just float through life and everything will be cool and I'll be peaceful.

And what they don't understand is that, yeah, that might work today.

You could tell yourself that today.

You could tell yourself that tomorrow.

But eventually you find yourself in the same position that you're in and everybody else has progressed because everybody else understands that it is.

So

you have to be real about your ability to compete.

Are you the best?

If you say you're the best, then where are the results?

If the results don't show you're the best, then guess what?

You ain't the fucking best, which means you need to focus all of your attention, all of your effort, all of your mental capacity on becoming the best, which you can't do when you're hungover or fucking stoned.

So, and people could say, well, then why do you smoke if you're still trying to get, but I don't know, bro.

Like, real talk, I probably shouldn't.

But at the same time, I do whatever the fuck I want.

I go wherever I want.

I fucking buy whatever I want.

I live how I, how I,

everything past where I'm at for me is fucking gravy because I'm so far past where I ever thought I would be in the first place.

It is what the fuck it is.

So if you can go, you know, and say that about your life, then if you want to smoke a joint once in a while, I don't fucking think it's a problem.

But

when you're sitting in a little shitty apartment and your life hasn't materialized yet and you don't know if it's gonna,

it's probably a good idea not to.

Yeah.

I think that's the thing too, man, like especially with the younger generation, it's a perspective issue, right?

Because they're in it.

They don't see where this is going to lead them in 10 years or 15 years.

You know what I'm saying?

There's a reason why I don't smoke weed on video You know, you got all these fucking these other little mentor dudes They're rolling up cones on a fucking video trying to be cool.

It's not that cool, man.

No, it's not that cool.

I like it, but it's not cool.

Like it's not cool to fucking make it cool to like kids and shit.

Right.

And, you know, maybe,

maybe I should lie about it and say I don't do it.

But dude, I try to keep it real with you guys, you know?

So I don't think it's a good thing for fucking younger people to do.

And to be honest, if I had kids, I probably wouldn't.

I probably would never, they would probably never see me fucking smoke.

You know what I'm saying?

But, you know,

it is what it is.

Yeah.

Yeah, I love it, man.

I mean, I don't know.

Like, I don't want to sound like a fucking,

I don't want to sound like an asshole, but, like, I've given everything.

I've given my whole life to what I have.

If I want to smoke some fucking weed once in a while, guess what?

I'm fucking smokes weed.

If I was in an apartment and I was paying 500 bucks a month with roommates and trying to build a business, I would have no problem not smoking weed because I would look around at my life and say, fuck,

this sucks.

I need to fucking fix this and this and this.

And I would fucking do that.

And, you know, if you want to develop discipline around being able to control yourself, that's the whole point of the Live Hard program and the 75 Hard Program.

If you want to control your discipline and you want to take control of the outside circumstances of your life, which actually give you control of most most of your life,

do the program because it will teach you how to adhere.

You know, most of the problem that people have in life isn't that they don't know what to do.

It's that they can't follow the plan to do it.

And that's what 75 Hard and Live Hard fixes.

It fixes your ability.

to adhere and have discipline over the decisions that we are in control of day by day by day.

And when we take control of the things that we can control, we find out that we were 95%, 98% in control of all the important things that dictate our results.

So if I were you,

I would live the Live Hard program.

I would live the Live Hard program every fucking year,

but especially if I was fucking 22 years old, because it's going to teach you a skill set that none of your peers are going to have.

And if I was 22 and I would have had the ability to control my external environment the way that I do now, I would have been where I'm at now by the time I was fucking 30.

That's the truth.

I didn't learn what I'm telling you until I was like 36, 37, 38 years old.

So,

yeah, man, that's my answer.

There you go, Anthony.

You're not as good as you think you are, bro.

You need to calm the fuck down and you need to realize that and

take control.

Real talk.

Yeah, quick.

Yeah.

Quick.

I love it.

I love it.

We got one more.

We got another question.

Got a call in.

Calling.

Another call in.

Let's hit Travis up.

Mr.

Travis.

Here we go.

Hello, this is Travis.

Travis, what's up, dude?

This is DJ.

DJ, what is going on, brother?

What's up, Travis?

This is Andy.

Andy, how are you doing, man?

So good to hear from both of you.

Yeah, it's good to hear from you, too.

Where are you calling in from, bro?

i'm calling in from virginia beach virginia oh man i've been there before yeah

that's where the the seal the seals base is right yeah

yep yeah we got a bunch of bases around here seal bases is here um norfolk's here a whole bunch of whole bunch of bases that's cool so what's going on today bro how are you

I'm good.

I'm good.

I'm busy in the workshop.

I've got a couple builds.

I'm just trying to wrap up and get delivered by Tuesday.

So I'm out here getting my sweat on.

It feels good today.

It's a brisk 84 with a stiff breeze.

It's pretty nice to be outside and working.

It does sound nice.

It does sound nice.

So what business are you in?

So I'm a custom woodworker.

I've been doing it on paper since 2018, but I've been building really anything and everything since 2010.

So custom furniture.

A little bit of everything.

So

that's what I do.

That's my business.

Well, what can we help you with, bro?

Man, I've got a

question I've just been just wrestling with for the past couple years.

So a little bit of backstory for context for the question.

So my wife is in the Navy.

She signed up

COVID-ish times.

So she went to officer training school, did that whole thing, then we moved up here shortly after.

So

we move pretty often being in the military.

She's she's an officer.

So, my question is:

Let me read it so I don't misquote myself.

So, moving when moving to a new area, what's the best way to connect

quickly and find your ideal customer or customer base?

And then, my second question is: how can I keep my previous customers engaged and turn them into long-term repeat clients, even if I'm no longer local to their area?

Oh man, well, it's

I can relate to this.

When I moved to Springfield, Missouri from St.

Louis to open our business, Supplement Superstores, I didn't know anybody.

I knew my business partner, a couple people from St.

Louis, but I knew nobody from Springfield.

And so I was in the same predicament.

And this was in 1999, 2000, okay?

So there was no internet.

So I had to do the press and you know the press in the flesh, so to speak.

You know what I'm saying?

The tummy sticks, you know?

We had to go around, you know, Springfield, Missouri, shaking hands, meeting people, making friends, introducing myself.

Hey, I'm Andy.

We just opened this vitamin store right down the street.

This is what I do.

If you ever need something like that, you know, we're here.

And then, you know, usually you get shoot off and,

you know, it doesn't come of anything.

But we did enough of that where we had, you know, a few people willing to come in and give us a shot.

And off of those few people, we did a good enough job to where those people would then bring other people.

And that is legitimately how we built our first company, supplement superstores.

And to be honest, it's still the way we

try to...

operate today.

You know, we try to make sure that we service the customer the best that we can in hopes that, you know, they will recommend other people to come to us.

And that's the foundation of business.

The foundation of good business is solve the problem, do it in a way that is remarkable in terms of them wanting to legitimately say something or recommend you to someone else.

And then you repeat that cycle over and over again and your business grows.

Now,

I had a second experience with that when I moved back to St.

Louis.

Okay, so I lived in Springfield for eight years.

I moved back to St.

Louis to expand our business.

Our first form still did not exist.

So when we got back to St.

Louis, I had to sort of do the same thing again, where I had to go around.

Even though I was from here, I'd been gone for so long that people kind of forgot.

So I had to start over, you know, and that was...

lots of meetings and lots of, you know, lunches and lots of shaking hands and all that stuff all over again.

And

it comes down to this, man.

Make a friend, make a sale.

All right.

If you're friendly with people, people buy from their friends, dude.

They buy from their friends more than they will buy from someone who isn't.

And a lot of people on the internet in entrepreneurial world will complain and say, nobody supports me and this and that.

Well,

nobody's going to support you if your product's not as good as what it should be.

And you can't expect people to buy and support you just because you exist if you're not as good.

So you have to fundamentally be as good or better than other people.

But then when you are, your friends and family are proud to support you.

And if we're realist about why they don't, it's because most people just aren't that good.

So I've done this a few different times, bro.

And

it really comes down to the simplest of simple, which is doing a great job, taking pride in your work, making sure that people are blown away with what you do, and then leveraging the word of mouth story that they tell their friends in the new business for yourself, and then repeating that over and over and over again.

And whether you're starting out from, you know, a new area or you're in an area that you grew up in your whole life, the principles of growing a business are the same.

And if you think about it like this, dude, this is where a lot of people really mess this up,

is that they think there is unlimited amounts of customers.

And if you imagine your business,

like just imagine you have a bucket, okay?

And in the bucket, you have, at the bottom, you have a bunch of holes, all right?

And you go out and you spend marketing money on acquiring new customers and people go in the bucket and then, you know, they come in.

And then they just go right out the bottom because your product's not good enough, your experience isn't good enough.

however you're doing things isn't capturing their loyalty.

Could be a bunch of different things.

The customer experience is off.

And

what people think is because they don't have the complete

formula set, meaning they have holes in the bottom of their bucket.

People start to believe that whatever they're doing isn't working or it's this or, you know, people don't want my product or they won't become a return customer.

Well, if you just plug the holes in the bottom of the bucket,

meaning

make sure your product's great.

Make sure the customer experience is great.

Make sure that you

do things that make them feel valued along the way.

Give them a story to tell, meaning like however you deliver the product should be,

there should be a,

you should be crafting your delivery, your experience with a

outcome of the story that you would like to be told about you when you're thinking about your business, right?

How am I gonna make this product, deliver it, make them say, holy shit, this is the best piece of furniture I ever seen

with the intent of them telling other people, like, hey, man,

you know, this is where I got this.

You guys need to check him out.

If you think like that, it doesn't matter where you're from, you're going to be able to accumulate customers because the holes in the bottom of that bucket get plugged and then the customers accumulate and then you create this giant momentum of word of mouth based off having multiple customers.

Now as far as people being remote or further away from you, I'm sure there's logistical challenges there with being a physical company, a custom company, custom woodwork.

But the idea is still the same.

If you can abridge those physical moats, meaning your ability to deliver the product in a fast, efficient, quality way,

it's going to work the same for you there too.

So

I mean, dude, I know that's probably a more simple answer than what you wanted me to tell you, but dude,

it's really, it's really, that's it.

It's all it is.

So if there's something more specific I could maybe help you with here, I mean, you're definitely free to follow up with a question.

But

yeah, I mean, mainly, dude, this is, this is how it works.

What I'm working on is just an amazing product and amazing process.

And I know with those two, if I can just really hone in on that, that works.

Because what we do at my company, we use trees displaced from natural disasters to build heirloom quality furniture, which is really, really cool.

We have an awesome way to build that, but building that story where it's just easily digestible for a customer, that's been kind of a challenge.

And then the other thing that I've, this is probably dumb, but I've been going to a lot of like pop-up places farmers markets and I've been told this a long time you know you know don't don't sell Gucci at goodwill kind of thing so it's I don't know if that's the the right avenue to just old school methods work for new school tactics so like I know

getting in front of people is the best way for people to know that I exist.

And that's that's the number one challenge is in Virginia Beach is trying to just let people know, hey, I'm here.

I'd love to help you if this is something that you need.

So is that kind of the, is going to farmers markets like

dumb or is it the right way to just

find physically your customer base?

I don't think anything is dumb if it's going to get you in front of people.

Okay.

Are there better ways?

Maybe.

And I'll give a few in just a second.

But keep in mind.

When we do events, you know, we do lots of events at First Forum and S2.

And our goal is not to go do an event that just has the right kind of people in it.

Our goal is to go to an event and make one relationship, one customer out of that event.

And when you do that,

we know that, like, let's just say for you, you get one customer out of these farmer markets.

If you can get one customer and you can deliver a great job and you can document the job and the satisfaction and the experience and then leverage that through social media, that's going to bring you more customers.

So a lot of it is how you value each customer.

And

I have now found a way in business to grow a business, even at the size of the companies that we operate now, where it isn't one customer at a time.

If you came to our all-company meeting that happens every single fucking Monday morning, we would talk, you would hear me say, and you would hear Sal say, one customer at a time, one person at a time.

You would hear that a thousand times because that's how we've built everything.

And I think a lot of people get hung up on the idea of grabbing a whole bunch of customers at once,

not really understanding that a lot of that shit that you hear on the internet is geared towards like selling a $2 widget or a, you know, a temporary e-com product that's going to change next week.

Right.

When we're talking about building a real custom company brand like you're trying to build, you know, that's a different thing.

And so you have to recognize the value of one job, what it was worth.

You know, hey, I spent three hours at the farmer's market.

I met one guy.

I did a cabinet for him.

I documented the cabinet.

I got him to do a little testimonial and I put that on my on my social.

And now that brought me two more customers.

Well, that brings a complete different value than saying, you know, is this the right thing or not?

And so when we look at, when you look at that, that's how I would think about that if I were you.

Okay.

Now,

where could you go to get in front of the right customers that you would like to be in front of?

What is

your ideal customer in your mind?

My ideal customer, man, I think that changes from season to season because in South Carolina, it was one person, but here it's another person.

I think it's a person who has

just like a love and understanding for not even necessarily the wood, but it could be land conservation.

It could be just the natural beauty of wood.

But what I'm really gearing towards is the person who wants to have like a dining room table or a conference table and just have family gatherings over there, just have tons of memories around that and then be able at one day to pass that on to someone.

So then the memories kind of go with the family.

That's that is my ideal customer.

It's not, you know, they make X amount or whatever.

Like, okay, my tables do start at a certain price.

So let me ask you this:

are you telling that story through your social media?

Meaning, when you show your woodwork or when you market yourself,

are you that's a first of all, that's a great story.

Okay.

And me not giving two fucks about furniture, if you told me that story, I would be like, yeah, man, that's how it should be.

And

I would lean into that story.

Appreciate that.

Yeah.

No, it's a real, that's a real thing.

And I could tell it was real coming from you.

So,

you know,

you need to, you need to lean into that story.

Like, hey, man, you know, in a, in a throwaway world

where everything's instant, everything's cheap, everything's replaceable.

We're making real American handmade goods that

your family is going to sit around and have holidays around, and some of your best memories are going to be around.

And this is going to get passed down to your kids, and they're going to have their memory.

Like, bro, that's a real great story about what you do.

And especially now in this time, of course,

yes, right, exactly.

Because everything's going so far the other way.

People are craving that stuff.

So, first off,

yeah, you should be telling that, dude.

you know go back to the example we were talking about a minute ago where you document the entire thing that that story should be woven into to how you show the projects that you built because just hearing you say that never meeting you never fucking seeing you i felt something when you said that so

Appreciate it.

Yeah, bro.

You should be telling that with your voice, by the way.

You have a really good voice.

Yeah.

Oh.

Yeah, for real, dude.

You have a voice for radio, huh?

Absolutely, me, you must be ugly

on my best day.

I'm a four.

I married up to the bottom.

Joy the joy the club, brother.

Hey, we can't get it all, right?

So, uh, that's it, dude.

Yeah, so, so, hey, man, you're on the team with us, bro.

It's

if we got it all, we'd be on TV, right?

Uh, that's it, but it's not like every camera in front of me.

That's right, that's why I'm not documenting anything on social media because all the cameras break when I start recording.

Well, we'll get you one of them ugly cameras like we do.

That was jokes just like me, too.

He's got your level of jokes.

So,

so yeah, dude.

I'd start telling those stories, man, and then, you know, get one job.

You know, bro, all you got to have is one or two jobs.

Do you have one or two jobs?

You just said you did.

So the next.

The next job I'm working on, it's very complicated because being in a military town, so I'm delivering a completely custom Adirondack for a Marine officer that's going to go on his ship.

So I can't really, I can't get pictures of it there, but I'm working on trying to get a video with him outside, maybe in front or beside the ship, because there's

a lot of red tape.

No, I get that.

But you can still tell the story.

Like, hey, I made this for the Admiral of this, you know, this is what he, this is what he asked.

This is what we did.

And, you know, this is going to be something that after his service is done, He's gonna pass down to his kids like there's a real story there and yeah

and Once you get one or two of these stories going bro the thing they will people will start to see you as like oh That's the guy that could create these amazing heirloom pieces that are high quality and you know instead of you having to go to the farmer's market to get started you're gonna start start having people come to you and that's that's where we got to get you to we got to get you from the going out and getting leads to where the leads come to you.

And because the nature of what you're doing requires a lot of time, energy, and expense.

And you only have so much of that right now to do.

So

the ideal thing would be for you to get some jobs, tell a story about the jobs, replicate the customers

that you're already getting,

create such a demand for your product that you can charge whatever you want because it's limited time.

And now you're in a place of options.

Now you could say, all right, I would like to bring on an apprentice.

I would like to start a little bit bigger of an operation where everything's still custom.

Yeah.

So, dude, we got to get you from that place where you're out acquiring leads to where the leads are coming to you.

And that's only going to be done through you doing a really good job, making an amazing product, and then also telling the story, which you happen to have an amazing story that goes along with the product um and then and then doing that bro like you're it's yeah it sounds like you've got it all figured out man like to be honest it's just time no really i know you probably don't feel i i know it it doesn't feel like it because like i don't i don't mind chasing leads because i i love talking to people i love just seeing if i can meet someone's need because There's been so much where like they're like, I really love what you do.

It's not going to work out for us, but I know a ton of people I can recommend you to, which has kind of been great because it's like it's word of mouth without earning the business, which is really rare for me.

I think kind of rare for a lot of people, but it hasn't like it's good some months, and then it's like Christmas time.

As much money as I want to make, Andy, I can make, but it's that January because it's because I'm so close to retail, but I'm not quite.

So it's just January, February, March is just like you know, a ghost town in the bank account, which is fine because you know, November, December Jane, or August, sorry, October, November, December is like, you know, harvest for me.

Yeah.

Well, here's what I would try to do this year is I would try to let these people know.

I would just straight up tell them.

I would say, hey, look, I got a lot of extra business this year.

I'm going to have to start booking for next year.

Let's get you lined up in these slots.

If you're going to want something next year, I'm going to need you to tell me this year.

Because like, dude, your best customer is going to be the guy who fucking bought something this year.

Right.

So, so,

like,

my, like my, the guy I get my cigars from, right?

Like

cigars are a massive gift around Christmas.

And oh, yeah, you know, sometimes I can't get what I want.

And he's like, you got to let me know way ahead of time.

And

so, dude, you got to use that timeframe to your advantage with the customers you already have.

And so I would also, you know, in addition to everything that, that we just said,

I would start to,

when you go through Christmas this year, I would let them know.

I'd say, hey, man, I really love doing this for you.

If you want to do something again next year for Christmas, we're going to have to put it on the books now.

And that way, you can start to populate your books ahead of time.

And then what happens is the story becomes not, hey, this dude built me

one-off piece.

It's, hey, this is my custom woodworker, bro.

He does the fucking most amazing shit.

And now you're starting to build a little bit of a legend around what you do just by pre-booking the people who are already buying from you does that make sense yeah

that totally makes sense yeah yeah and i think it creates a little bit of urgency for sure go ahead and get stuff in creating that totally makes sense creating urgency and fomo is a big deal bro even if you have to manufacture it in the beginning meaning you've just got to say hey yeah uh you know i only have and dude it's not it's not even bullshit it's true with you you only have so much time Yeah, yeah.

So that's true.

So yeah, dude, I would, I think, bro, honestly, I think you're set to do, do really well.

I don't think you need to go do anything else right now except take the customers that you have, make them extremely happy and start documenting the stories.

And then when, you know, you start filling up for Christmas, which is going to be soon.

Yeah.

You know, start letting them know, hey, man,

just letting you know, this is my busiest time of year.

I've got you in this year, no problem.

But if you're going to want to do something again next year, a lot of my customers do, let's go ahead and get you on the books now.

And that way we can meet, we can talk.

Then, you know, we'll talk in March or right, exactly.

And, and, uh, and that way it helps line up your business for the next year.

And so that creates the scarcity, right?

Like, here's the story now:

the story is, man,

where'd you get that

Hubidor?

Oh, man, my buddy made it for me.

You know, custom.

It was amazing.

I actually, you know, like

I get in with him every year.

He's really hard to get into, but maybe, maybe I could get you in with him, you know, and now the customers are starting to like create the scarcity.

Create demand for me.

Yeah, bro.

And this is what I've seen work in other, work very well in other

areas where people are trading their time and skill for money, like such as tattooing.

My tattoo artist, you know, he's got a four-year book.

You know what I mean?

Like he, if you want to get in with him new, it's four fucking years away.

So,

but, but then, guess what he does?

If he's, if you got the money, he'll say, I get you in next month.

And then, you know, you know what the story is about him?

Hey, man, my guy's the fucking best.

And you know what?

I might be able to get you ahead.

He's got a four-year book, which makes me feel cool.

Now you're the guy.

And him feel cool.

Right.

So

it's a lot of, you know,

it's putting all this shit together so that people value what you do and then they'll talk about it and then bring you their people.

And, you know, I think you're in a good spot, dude.

You love people.

You love the work.

Yeah.

And you understand the value of the work.

And I think really, dude, with just a few adjustments, you'll be as busy as you want to be.

And then you're going to have the options of how you want to scale it.

Yeah.

That's, that's the goal.

Like, really, in the next two to three years, I want to bring on an apprentice because you teach what you know, but you reproduce who you are.

And, you know, skills, you can go learn skills anywhere, but to be a good human, to just love, love the process, you don't always get to learn that anywhere.

So if I can just find someone who's just,

I mean, an inch interested in what I'm doing, I think I could go make robots of myself.

And that's kind of the goal.

Yeah, bro.

For sure.

100%.

I think you're on it, dude.

I think you're good.

I would like for you to check.

I don't feel it most days.

Well, dude, nobody does.

That's why you fucking get good at what you do.

You don't feel good.

Nobody gets great at something they think they're already great at.

Nobody gets better at something they think they're already the best at.

To be good, you have to think your shit.

That's part of the recipe.

You know what I'm saying?

Like, you have to understand.

that you're not doing a really great job to even be great.

When fucking Michael Jordan was kicking everybody's ass you know he didn't go to practice thinking i'm the greatest he went to practice thinking man i gotta get better and the reason he thought i gotta get better is because he thought man i don't know if i know what the fuck i'm doing so

all winners think like that bro it's not just you i feel like that everybody i know everybody i know that's successful feels that way

all right

love it dude we're gonna check in with

that's awesome yeah bro

check back in check back in uh i'd be curious to

check back in in the spring, bro.

I want to hear how this worked out for you.

Yeah, yeah.

I got two things before we leave.

One,

I know you talked about making trophies.

I've got a couple mocked up.

I'd love to send you some and see if you want some trophies to hand out for your

idea about sending trophies.

These guys got to win them first.

Yeah, yeah.

You let me know.

I got a few on back order, actually.

Oh, yeah.

Oh.

You got a few you owe back to me.

That's what you mean by back order.

The second thing is,

I just, I really appreciate you guys and what you do.

75 hard.

Just finished my second round.

Absolutely has changed my life.

I'm down 40 pounds since March.

And,

dude,

I had a very, very minor

health.

thing come up and dude it it

you know fire flight came up you know we just had our son.

He's 11 months old.

And I just, I don't want another man to raise my son.

So I was just, you know, I started looking this thing in the face and, you know, beating his face in every day.

So that's awesome.

Justify Hard was able to give me that mindset to do that.

So we're about to start round three once I get this injury healed up.

And we're just going to, we're going to make it a lifestyle here soon.

Good, man.

Good.

Congratulations on all the success so far, brother.

And congratulations on the new baby.

That's awesome, bro.

Thank you.

He's a ham.

We love him to death.

All right, brother.

Well, check back in with us in the spring for real, dude.

I want to hear how it's going.

Yes, sir.

Absolutely.

Thank you guys so much.

And thank you, bro.

Thanks for the support.

Heck yeah.

All right.

Have a good one.

You too.

Yeah, dude.

What?

You know who I kept thinking about?

You know who I kept thinking about, though?

In this convo?

Who?

It's Jesse James.

Oh, yeah.

Like, prime example, man.

He's fucking, I mean, you waited years for a bike.

Yeah.

You're still waiting on a bike.

Yeah.

You know what I mean?

Like, I mean, but yeah.

But then when I get it, I'm going to be like, damn, dude.

Look, I don't think you can't even get this.

I can't get it.

Yeah, no, I mean, like, it's a real thing.

And, and, yeah, that's a, that's, you have to create, if you're going to make a lot of money with something with your hands, you have to do it in such a way where you stack people like that.

Yeah.

Otherwise, it's.

You can only get so much.

You know what I mean?

Or you got to scale it out like he's talking about.

But just to put, there's a lot of people, you know, they say online too, they'll say there's no way to make a lot of money if you're working with your hands or you're working a craft or you're this or that.

No, there is, you just don't know how to do it.

Yeah, you know what I mean?

Yeah, because there's a couple of examples.

He's right.

And, dude, you know, marketing is part of that.

Telling a story is a big part of that.

That guy's got a great story.

Beautiful story.

And he has some beautiful work, too.

I've been checking out his IG, man.

What's his IG?

His IG is reinvented woodworks.

Reinvented Woodworks, man.

Yeah.

You guys go give him a shout.

Travis, you got some phenomenal wood there, bro.

You would know.

I'm looking at it.

You're a wood expert.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Well, guys, Andy, man, that's a hell of a way to start a week, man.

All right, guys.

We'll see you tomorrow with CTI.

Go out and kick some ass, make the world a better place, and uh, don't be a hoe.

Share the show.

Now, my druid box froze.

Fuck a bowl, fuck a stove.

Counted millions in the cold.

Bad bitch, booted swole.

Got a bank rope.

Cank fold, that's a no Headshot case close