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♪ Yeah, never sleeping on the floor ♪
“♪ Now my jury box froze, fuck up, fuck up, fuck up ♪”
♪ Counting me is in a cold bed ♪ ♪ It's booted slow, got up on bank road ♪ ♪ Can't vote, doesn't know, can't shot ♪ ♪ Case closed, closed, closed ♪ - What is up guys, it's in the facility
and this is the show for the real estate goodbye to the lives of fake dissent illusions upon our society, and welcome to another week of progress. (upbeat music) Today we have Q&AF that's where you submit the questions
and we give you answers. DJ, how can they submit their questions? Yeah guys, you can email your questions into ask, [email protected]. You can also click the links in the description below
and submit your questions either video, form, or just another write-in, or just drop them in the comments section of the Q&AF videos on YouTube. If you're new listener, we have shows within the show. Tomorrow, you're gonna hear CTI that stands for crews,
the internet, that's where we put topics on the screen. We talk about what's going on in the world. We do a lot of speculation and tell a lot of jokes that are very funny and you better laugh. Then we have, what, that's right, I'm just saying.
I don't have too many minds, well laugh, laugh at our jokes, makes us feel good. Occasionally we're gonna have real talk, that's five, 20 minutes, and we give you some real talk, and then we have what's called 75 hard versus,
and 75 hard versus, where we bring people on the show. We talk about what's going on,
“how they transform their life using the 75 hard program.”
If you're unfamiliar with 75 hard is the initial phase of the LiveHard program, which is the world's most famous mental transformation program in history, and it is free. You can get that episode 2-0-8 on the audio feed.
There's also a book called The Book on Mental Toughness. It is not free, but it's a tremendous book, but I don't say so myself. You get that, AndyForcel.com. It talks about the entire LiveHard program plus,
a whole bunch of chapters on mental toughness, how to cultivate it and use it to be the best version of yourself. Now, we do have this thing on the show that is a little bit different. Instead of running ads, we are the biggest show in the world that doesn't run ads.
We just ask that you help us grow the show, man, the show makes you think that makes you laugh, it gives you new perspective. Something you think is worth hearing. Do as a favor and share that out. It's the only way we grow.
So don't be a ho. Sure, the show. All right, what's up, dude? It's going on, brother. Question.
Yeah. They were making a movie of your life. What actors plan, plan, and maybe. Man, I don't know. You tell me.
I don't know. But Tester, he probably would be a pretty decent. Come on, dude. Always. You don't do me like that, but it was probably a Tester.
He's a great actor. No. No, I'm not a fan. I would say, to me. He's yo.
I would say, yeah, be me. There's only one of me. Yeah. He's like CGI if like the younger days. What are you talking about?
Okay. Still young.
This was, this was the first of all.
Yeah, that's idea. Yeah. And I feel like this was South Korea.
“Well, I'll tell you who I think would be cool.”
I think if I were to choose, it would be Tom Hardy. Okay. Oh, it's good. Or Christian bail. I like those.
I like Christian bail. I like those. He can definitely do it. Yeah, he's awesome. Yeah.
All right, so that's that. Not like it. That's it. Terry Cruz, yeah. Terry Cruz, do me right now.
I'm pretty tan. Yeah. All right. I like it. Yeah.
Those are solid options. I don't know. We're about you. Same with old Jackson. Yeah.
For sure. I think Samuel Jackson do me. It could be one of them like Netflix movies. For sure. Switch it up.
Yeah. Samuel or Denzel. Yeah, I'd be fine with Denzel. Yeah, you're your ice cube, bro. Hmm.
I can see that too. That's fine. That's a good actor, though. Yeah. That's a good.
That's not a hit, Joe. No. I thought he was shot. I think he's underrated. I agree.
Yeah. I agree. I thought he was phenomenal. And then a thief's two. Yeah.
I mean, spread actor. I don't know what other movies he's. I think that was it. Not enough. But he had not enough.
That's right. Yeah. Well, blood for everything. Yeah, man. Guys.
It is Q&AF. Which means something makes people better. All right. Again, we got a little mix here of some writings and some video suggestions. Some video submissions.
Let's get into it, man.
Knock out this first one.
Nice and easy. Nice and quick. Check this out. You keep it quick. If you had to build something from nothing, starting today with no money, no connections, no audience.
What was your first 90 days look like?
Hmm. Well, clearly, you have to decide what it is that you're going to build. Okay. I don't think that putting something on a timeframe like 90 days is a realistic expectation, right? Like very simply, you have to come up with a couple of key elements.
All right. What is it that I know about? What is it that the market demands? And how can I create a product about that? That I can then scale to the level of whatever that level is that you want it to scale to.
Because not every business has the market capacity to go to, you know, 20, 30, 100 billion dollars, right?
“So, you know, you have to ask yourself, what are you interested in?”
What do you know? All right. And if you're passionate about it and you like it, it's better because it's something that you're interested in, which means you're going to have more knowledge and it also means that during this time where you're not making any money, you're still going to enjoy doing the work.
Yeah. All right. So the fumes of passion. Yeah. Pretty much, dude.
A lot of people say, well, passion doesn't matter. No, it doesn't matter once you get established. Yeah. But it does matter in the beginning phases when no money's coming in. Everything seems pretty dark.
It's really, really hard.
“You have to still be interested in what it is that you're selling because that enthusiasm around”
what you're selling is what's going to get you your first few customers.
You know, obviously coming up with the idea for a product. Nowadays, we have a situation where we could create a landing page with digital, you know, a digital landing page, run ads for very inexpensive and test if there's a market for the product, before we ever create the product. So you didn't used to be able to do that.
What you used to do is you just have to make a product and then do the whole thing and then see if it works. Now we have the ability to develop a concept, create a page, put the page out in public, and then see if there's a demand for it, which I, that's the kind of testing that I would do over that 90 days. So that first 90 days would be the concept, the idea, the development of, you know, what the business looks like at scale, and that's just what it looks like today.
A lot of people in the beginning, they focus on what they lack in income right now. Like I'm trying to make an extra $2,000 a month or $3,000 a month. And that's important, okay.
“But the bigger thing that you really need to think about is where does it go in five years?”
Where does it go in 10 years?
And so I would spend the first 90 days working whatever job that it is that I work,
okay, to pay the bills, and I would do all of those things over the 90 days. I would create an idea, I would create a concept, I create a brand, I would test it, and then validate if there's a demand, and then, you know, we would move on from that point of time. Let me actually do this because I feel like a lot of people are, oh, you know, knowing what you know now, right? Like, but even that aside, is it easier now in today's world to start a business and get one going?
It's never been easy. It's never been easy. It's never been easier. It's never been easier. It's never been easier.
Okay, like I said a minute ago, you know, in 1999, for me to start a nutritional supplement for vitamin store, I'm taking a big risk, okay, so I'm looking at other companies and saying, okay, well, G and C does this, vitamin shop does this, I could do this. But I don't really know for sure how much interest there is in that. I'm counting on me being able to take market share from them, which when you're a very small start-up,
it's unlikely because of the resource difference that you're going to have. So, nowadays, you know, you have the ability as an individual, especially with AI, to do work that would take a year to get done and you could do that in a week. So, I mean, nowadays is much, much easier. It's so much easier that like people don't even understand how good they have it, right?
Like it's, it's a, it's an embarrassment of riches in terms of the opportunity. Yeah. And, but what's the catch? You know what I'm saying? Like it's easier to start with, but what's the difference?
What makes it harder, I guess now? Well, break and free from that first initial, you know, a small digital company that's selling widgets or whatever it is and then scaling that out into a real brand. You know, we have a lot of quote unquote experts online that will tell you how to create, you know, a page with, you know, a headline or a hook and and how to convert it and all these things.
But what they don't tell you is how to convert that into an actual company with enterprise value back in,
Which that's how people get wealthy do.
People don't get wealthy.
Very few people get wealthy from cash flow. Most people get wealthy from creating an asset that they can sell later on.
“And that's why the conversation needs to move, especially in a concept phase of, okay.”
Am I making an extra $5,000 a month or $10,000 a month? And what's that look like in five years? Is it, is it a real company that can be built and possibly exited to somebody else? Can it really disrupt an industry? Because do the game of business now, unfortunately, and fortunately, unfortunately, because most of the,
the biggest companies in the world are gobbling up all the smallest companies with potential and then they buy them and then they scale them. That makes it easier for people to get wealthy on the backside of their business. But the flip side of that is like the same people own all the companies, right? Which nobody likes. So,
Tans are your question. I mean, dude, it's infinitely easier now than it ever has been.
“And, you know, to say what would my first 90 days look like?”
You know, what I just described you could figure out. You could literally do that in a week. So, you know, I would compress down that concept that I just explained for 90 days. And I think you could do that in a week or two. And then make a decision about what it is you want to do from there.
Yeah. Oh, yeah, man. Nice and easy to get going. Let's hit our next one. Another video submission.
Check this one out. Hey, Andy, I co-owner plumbing company with my husband. It's scaling fast. We went from 1.6 million in 23 to 3 million in 24 to 5 million in 25. And this year, our targets are ranging between 8 and 10 million.
That's awesome. Within the last year, we've built out a leadership team. My natural communication style is direct. And I tend to spot issues early. But now it's more often being perceived as micromanaging and I'm ruffling feathers.
How do I adapt my leadership communication so that I'm more empowering my team and allowing them to own their own roles?
But at the same time without lowering my standards for excellence or letting mistakes become critical.
I tend to be blunt and direct. And pair that with the issues of finding or pair that with finding issues before anyone else. I'm frustrating my team. I'm really struggling to make that switch and develop my leadership with the growth of the company. And I just really wanted to know, what did you do to help with this transition and your first company as you were growing?
This is a fucking great question. Great question. First of all, there's nothing wrong with ruffling feathers. Okay, so we have to remove that as a concern, especially in the critical early days of a business which you are in.
“There's going to be times where you have to make a call because no one else is catching up to speed and you're going to say, hey, we're fucking doing this.”
Okay, and yeah, there's going to be people who don't like that. It doesn't matter. We're not here to appease everybody's infirmate, you know, they're fucking feelings. This isn't therapy. So there's nothing wrong with being direct, but the problem, if you're always direct, is that you actually handicap your team from developing on their own, which is what you're wanting them to do, right? You want your team to operate autonomously, to see things before they're happening, to address things before they become problems.
And when you're overly direct and you answer all the problems, you're actually stunting their ability to learn and develop, which creates the cycle where a lot of entrepreneurs get in, right? They get into this cycle where things are scaling and then they get so much on them that they can't fucking scale anymore, okay? It becomes overwhelming.
And to compete at a level where you guys are at like $10 million, that's a significant business, all right?
You need the brain power and the development of your team. You need that autonomous thinking and action to happen without you having to micro manage, so to speak. And the reason that people don't like micro managing is basically one of two reasons. Either one, they're being held accountable to actually do work, which is not doing it. Correct. You don't want those people, okay?
Or two, and this is most people, they want to contribute, but they're not allowed to contribute. More people leave a great company because they feel underutilized than because they feel micro manage. So let's think about micro management not as like what most people think, where they think like the boss is just hovering over saying, "Do this, do this, do this, do this." But let's think of it as like, we're taking away their satisfaction that they would give for contributing, okay?
That's, I could tell you from experience, that's the 80, right?
It's always 80, 20. There's 20 that are lazy and don't want to do the work, 20%.
There's 80% that want to contribute, that you're not allowing to contribute because of the way that you're leading. So in the beginning, that leadership style of directness, and we got to do this, and we're going to do this right now because there's urgency because the business is in a more vulnerable state, okay? It's easier for that business to fail or have a couple things that could happen and really hurt them.
“So to evolve from where you are, to where you want to go, you have to shift your intent to go from, okay?”
Yes, my job is to make sure that we don't wreck the company, all right?
But also, my job is to develop these people, all right? And that's a fine line that you have to balance. Because sometimes when you start to try to develop your people, you back off so much that they make big mistakes and it ends up hurting you. So you've got, it's kind of like you've got to give enough rope to where they can develop, but then watch them real close to make sure that they don't fucking anything up majorly. How this looks like in tactical application is more questions being asked than direct orders being given, okay?
So I have this thing that I say all the time and it's very simple, it's what do you think, okay? When someone comes to me with an idea or a concern or a problem, the automatic response I have is what do you think, okay?
“And then they're going to say, well, I think this and this and this and this and this and this is important because not only does it teach them how to think, but it teaches them that you value their thoughts, okay?”
And if you value your thoughts, it gives them more confidence to take action, all right? Right now they're gunshot, they don't want to make a mistake, they don't want to piss off the boss, all right?
You have to empower them at your words and power them to have enough confidence to be able to act on things that they know need to be resolved or actions that need to be taken. And that really comes through the development process. So like when someone comes in and I say, what do you think that, you know, sometimes they'll have the right answer and I'm like, that's exactly right, go do it, okay? Now they know the next time that same thing happens, they already know, so they don't come to you, all right?
Now you're building an autonomous acting member of your team. If they give the wrong answer, okay? I don't automatically go, well, that's fucking stupid or that's wrong. Now when I was a terrible leader, if I could 15 years ago, that is what I did. And that made it worse because now those people don't want to say shit because I made them feel stupid, all right?
“So you have to understand that even when they're wrong, this is a learning opportunity, it's a learning exercise, it's a development exercise.”
So they give the wrong answer and I'll say, okay, what have you thought about this, okay? Like I know the answer, right? Have you thought about this, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah? No, I didn't think about that. What do you think knowing those things, right? And you sort of guide them into them coming up with the answer, because eventually you're going to ask them questions and they're going to say, well, you know, probably this and probably that. You come to the answer, you let them own that win, okay? You don't take that win from them and be like, you know, oh, yeah, see, I helped you, no, look, dude, you knew the answer the whole time.
You see what I'm saying? So you build their confidence to go do that thing, though that simple switch will take your team from a team that is completely dependent on you, the founder CEO, the owner. To a team that operates autonomously and when when you earn the trust of your team that you have the right intent for their development, they, there's like a magical thing that happens and they start to take ownership of the company, okay? And they start to like really care about doing the right things that are going to help the company win, which is what we want anyway, okay? So this is a very simple perspective switch.
You're not doing anything wrong because that part of leadership in the beginning is definitely required to get shit moving. But now we're moving into a different where you're going to go from 10 to 20 and 20 to 40, alright? That's going to require other people being great. And so you have to be willing to just take a little bit of extra time to help build their confidence by asking questions instead of dictating orders.
Yeah, I've heard you describe this as like, you know, like how if you're on t...
Like, hey, you know, motherfucker, you got to get over here or whatever, it sounds direct, but like, there will be times.
“Yeah, there will be times, no matter if you run in a 10, 20, 200, 500 million dollar company, where you have to walk over to your team and say, hey, we need to fucking do this right now.”
Okay, and I don't want to hear any fuck, we're doing this. Do that. There's going to be times. But those things do not frustrate the team if 95% of the time you're allowing them to just do their thing. Yeah, right? Then they've earned the trust. They say, well, fuck, that must be important. Let me do that. And then the important thing is to follow that up. Okay, look, the reason I came in, I was this way is because we need to do this, this, this right now, that has to happen and they're going to get it.
You know, the analogy you've always used, talked about this, this situation is like, you know, you got the fucking ship. You're in the crow's nest.
So, you know, for the icebergs, right? When it comes to allowing mistakes, you've called them investments, right? Is that dependent on how much time I guess you got from hidden that iceberg? You know, I'm saying, if you can course correct it, we allow that mistake to even 98% of the time, you're, it's not life or death. Okay, so it might feel like it because we're urgent and we want to win, but it's just not. And when you get so wrapped up in the urgency that you think that everything's an emergency, then you cannot develop the team to actually know what the fuck to do, which creates a situation like I said before, where it becomes impossible to scale because you don't have an actual team that contributes, you just have a bunch of people to do what you tell them.
And those are two different things, okay? And when you have a team where it's just a bunch of people to do what you tell them, you're going to have a high turnover because those people have ideas, they're talented, they're skilled at what they do. And they want to contribute, okay? And if you don't allow them to contribute, they're going to get frustrated and they're going to leave. So, you got to find that sweet spot of making sure that, you know, and by the way, they're going to make mistakes. And when they make mistakes, you're going to handle it the same way.
Hey, come here for a second. Why'd you do this? Well, blah, blah, blah. Knowing what you know now, would you have done that? Well, no. What would you have done differently? I would have done this. Okay? Well, are you going to do that next time? Yes. And that's the, that's the development. It's very simple. Yeah. It's very simple. It's, it's shifting your, it's shifting from directing to asking questions that very simple switch helps that because do nobody.
“People believe their own solutions and their own ideas more than someone who else who has the idea, right?”
So the key is to guide them to where the answer comes from within them. You see, that brother, that's powerful shit right there, man. I love it.
I love it, man. We got it. We got it right in, dude. Let's, yeah, see the right in question. Andy, I'm making more money than I ever thought I would, but for the first time in my life, I don't have a clear target when I was broke every extra dollar matter, every promotion matter. Now, I can pay my bills. I can invest. I can live comfortably. And I feel strangely ameless. How do you keep ambition alive after you've already accomplished the goals you thought would make you happy? Well, you've got to be realistic. Okay? You haven't done shit.
Okay? You're just getting by. You're comfortable. You're not killing it. Okay? So those are two different things. And the, there's a saying, you know, the enemy of great is good. And the reason that is is because when comfort invest itself into you, you can't become great because you don't have the ambition.
“You don't have the drive. You don't have the will that you had before. And the key to overcoming this is to continuously set bigger goals and bigger goals and bigger goals.”
Now, that comes with a caveat. Okay? Most people do not ever define what the win actually is.
Like, what is the win? Okay? And because they don't define what the win is, they never feel like they've actually won.
All right? And they get caught up in the game for the sake of the game. Now, there are people like me, like I fucking love the game. Okay? Like, I get this all the time. People are like, well, why do you work so hard after all these years? Because dude, I'm different. I'm different. That's what I love the game. I love the game. I don't know. Like you might like to go play golf. I love the game.
That's right.
Like the date, like when I go home on the weekend and everybody's out of here and we're not flucking work like dude, I hate it. It's about hardest time. Well, with the weekends for most people are the favorite time.
“The weekends for me are the least favorite time because I'm wired for the game. I love the game. I actually love it. And I know that's hard for people to understand. There's people like that. Okay?”
Most people are not like that. And what happens the most people is they fail to define what the win is and then they mindlessly go down the path and they never feel like they're getting anywhere.
Okay? So the key is, what is the win? Okay? The win is not for you to be comfortable. Oh, you know, I'm paying my bills. I got more money than anybody in my family. So what? You're still fucking broke. Okay? Like that's not the win. All right? And what's that? What? If you stay where you are right now, where are you going to be in five years? Where are you going to be in 10 years? We're going to be in 30 years. You think that, do you not understand that life is long? You're going to need a lot more fucking money than you think you need.
Okay? When you combine with the time of life being long and then the fact that we have tyrants literally devaluer a money at light speed, you need to understand that whatever you think your financial goal is, you should like a hundred X that. And then work towards that. Okay? But when we think about like, how do we get that fire back or how do we get that? That's very simple. You set another goal. You set another place, but to do that and actually believe it, you have to acknowledge that you're really not anywhere yet.
“Okay? So like people like to say, well, I don't like to compare myself to anybody we should. You have to. You fucking should. Okay?”
So admit to yourself that you're not really where you want to be. You're just in a middle phase where it's not as painful as it was. And if you refuse to continue to go, it's going to get painful again.
Okay? By default. And then decide where it is you really want to go and don't just settle for what you have and go after it in that ambition and fire and drive will come back.
Okay? Champion mentality people set a new goal before the L O goals even reach. That is a big difference between people who get somewhere and then lose it and people who continuously went over the course of their life. People who get somewhere and then it fades out. They do exactly what this person's doing. They get to a point. They say, oh, I got it made when they don't got it made. And then they stop working, then they get out of the habits. They get out of the lifestyle. They start to get really comfortable. They get fat. They get lazy. And then by the time they realize they got to go and they're so far out of the game and they've lost all the momentum. It's like starting over.
So, you know, I think it's about being honest with yourself, dude, like real talk. I mean, I've seen a lot of people. I've seen a lot of people ruin their lives because they got to a point where they were better off than maybe like their parents or anybody they know in their family and they stop. I've seen more people ruin their lives that way than people who just don't even try because dude, what's worse than kind of staying where you are your whole life is getting better and then losing it. You know, I'm saying fucking sucks. Yeah, I feel like the flip's like because it's funny because how you picked up on the language that he was using like, you know, you're not, you didn't describe himself as killing it.
You're not killing it, but who the fuck are you? I don't know your name. That's right. That's right. What do you say? I make more money than what? That he ever had. Yeah, you make more money. Yeah, cool. Yeah, right. You know what would have happened to me if I would have quit when I started making more money.
I never, like my first year I made real money, quote unquote, real money, I made 180 grand. You know where I would be if I would have quit then fucking killing it. Yeah, that's right.
“That's right. Well, I'm not, but I think this lens, so what you're, which is speaking on it, the fact that like you focus on the scoreboard, not the trophies, not what happened in the past goals that you listen to. You know what I'm saying?”
That's a huge deal. Okay. It does not matter. Your past victories do not matter. More people ruin their lives because they've done one or two things and then they put their value in their identity and those one or two wins. And then time keeps going and they don't keep going and it passes them by. It does not matter what you did yesterday.
It does not matter what you did last year. It does not matter that you were the biggest deal ever five years ago or ten years ago. What matters is, is what are you doing today? And if we're being honest, here's the reality.
The life that you are living right now, and I'm talking to this dude, is buil...
Right now, you are not that dude five years ago. You aren't even close. You're not even behaving. You're not taking any of the actions. You're not going hard. You're sitting with your feet up.
“Just respecting the effort of the old Jew. And you have to realize that if you continue where you are right now, that that next one thousand days, you're going to fucking lose everything you got.”
Okay. Our lives that we live in today are the product of a past version of ourselves and the actions that that person took. We are living in a material reality that was created by the version of you that was three, four, five years ago. Okay. If you're fat, you don't have to accept that you're fat. The reason you're fat is because that weak motherfucker that you used to be is what's created that outcome.
And whatever you're taking actions today on is going to produce another result two, three years from now. What's that result going to be based upon the actions that you took today? And if we're being honest, your result is going to be fucking losing. Do you also think that the problem lies with most people not being able to handle two sides perfectly? One of the sides is, oh look how far I have gone. Another side is how far I have to go.
And most people kind of are weighing more on one side. Do you think that's also the problem? Yeah, that's an awareness problem. You know, like, and there's pros and cons to both. Like, I error on the other side of this. Okay. And you know this because you're one of the ones that reminds me of this.
“And you could vouch for this. Remember that meeting we had three weeks ago, where I came in and I'm like, bro, I feel like a fucking failure.”
Okay. And you're like, dude, what are you talking about?
You did this, you did that. You did this. So I never remember the shit that I've done.
And that's not bullshit. I'm saying on the podcast. Is that true? There's almost no fault. It is to a fault because it makes me very unhappy. Okay. Because I never acknowledge anything that I've done. I only care about what I did today and what I'm doing moving forward. And so that creates this feeling of I never accomplished anything.
And people have a hard time when I say that. I think I'm full of shit because they're like, holy shit, dude. Well, yeah, when I stop and I think about it, yeah, I've done a couple things. But I don't base my identity in that. I base my identity and what I'm doing moving forward. Okay. So I error more towards that way. Most people error more towards the other way.
Where it's like, okay, I won the high school football game. I was the valedictorian in my class. And they think that these, I built a business that did this or I did that. And they build their identity in that, which creates a scenario of stagnation, where they're not improving to become the next version of themselves.
And to answer your question, I think you need like 80, 20. Okay. I'm 100% forward. I really am. Okay. And I'm going to, I'm being real with you guys. It's not healthy. Okay. I'm 100% forward. You can have all of your seats. He ain't fucking healthy.
“Yeah. But here's the thing. It keeps me young.”
Yeah. Okay. I'm the young man. Yeah, dude, for real. Like, so there's benefits to it, but when I'm frustrated and when I'm in a bad, getting a dark spot,
it's always because I'm not having gratitude for where the fuck I've done it and where I've been.
And I'm not seeing it in front of my face. I'm only seeing what hasn't happened yet. And so ideally, and this is something I'm trying to work on. It's keeping real with you guys. I don't have it all figured out. You know, when I'm trying to work on is to bring that 100% to maybe a 90% and give me 10% of like, okay, I can acknowledge that this and this and this is something that we did and it was good, right?
But I think most people are the inverse. You know, they have one or two good things. You know, like, they got up. They had a big win or they did a big thing. And we see this a lot with pro athletes. Like athletes will come out of, we see two scenarios coming out of pro sports. Okay. It's, it's all, there's only two. There's no middle.
Either they create their entire identity on what they did in the past and then they become
basically a has been and they don't really do anything.
And then you see them like, when they're 60 years old, signing autographs on a baseball car show and nobody's really in line, right? Or they come out and they're like, pay manning who becomes an entrepreneur. He takes his focus and his drive and his competitive nature.
He says, yeah, dude, I did that, but now I'm doing this.
And he dedicates himself to that, that same thing that made him great over here. He's dedicating to this. And so typically out of pro sports, we're seeing two scenarios. They either lose real bad or they continue to win real big. And that comes from that balance that we're talking about. If you are looking at your life and you're consistently saying,
this is what I did and I did this or do you remember this or remember we did that? You're out of balance. Okay. There's a time and a place to recognize those things. You might have some photographs or something. You walk by in your house.
“You say, oh, yeah, I remember that. It's cool. Right.”
But the focus has to be forward. Okay. And so I think most people need to shift that 80% looking backwards to 80% look at forward. In my scenario, I need to do the opposite. I love it, man. Yeah. I think that's a very important concept.
Yeah. Because, you know, and this is not something I'm proud of. But like there's a lot of things that have happened in my life that were very good and very significant that I don't even remember. And like, I have no memory of them because I'm so unfocused on the past.
And that's not good. You know, like Chris and Sal and like you and you guys have to remind me of those things because like I really don't even fucking think of them. You know what I mean? And that creates a scenario which I think most super high drive. You know, I'm talking about like the point 1% of the 1%
they get in a scenario like that where they are just so focused on moving forward that like the past is completely fucking irrelevant. Yeah. And that's not good because you need to have memories. And you need to do a knowledge, you know, the cool people and the cool things that happened
in the events that came along the way, you know, that's the crux I think of of being that kind of individual. But as you said, there are pros to that. For sure. For sure. For sure.
“We as a team talk to more people than you do.”
Yeah. And especially one of the examples was Summer Smash. When we were doing the live show. Yeah. Every single person that talked to any one of the team members was talking about how
you're content and your drive has helped them level up in life. In ways that they didn't even know. But it came from you and your drives. Yeah. Well, I mean, that's the important part of having good people around you.
You know, like everybody in this room, my fucking would take a bullet for. You know, I think vice versa. Yeah. Absolutely. So.
But yeah, man, we all got things to work on. That's what I have to work on. And you guys have to work on it on a different way. This guy here asked dude, you're you're living in the past, bro. Get the fuck out of there.
Cool trophies do. Yeah. That'll fucking ruin you. Yeah. You know what I mean?
At least looking forward won't completely ruin you. That's right. That's right. I love it man.
“Guys, remember if you want to submit these questions, guys.”
Click the links in the description right now. You can submit these questions to be answered. Let's get another one in. We got an audio submission. Let's check it out.
Hey, Mr. Forsella. My question for you is on how to properly set up a team.
Would you first set your mission, vision, any standards that you have?
And then see who on your current team is the right fit? Or would you try to get the right people on your team? And then set the direction for where you want the team to go? Small back story is I'm transitioning out of the military here a couple months. Where we don't have complete control over who is on our team?
We just motivate them and try to get them in the direction where we want to go. So in transitioning, I'm just trying to see. How to properly set up a team once I'm in the corporate world. It's okay. You don't want to go in the corporate world.
Yeah, oh, that. Yeah. Or are you going to say? Oh, it's like, what came first, man? The chicken of the egg.
It's listen. I can understand why that would be confusing. Yeah. But it's really not.
It's mission first always.
When you have a team, like for example. Okay. When I bought those six stores back in 2006, okay. We had two stores.
We bought six. We closed two. We had six total at the end, right? I inherited a bunch of people that weren't my hires. Okay.
And I walked in. I said, this is what the fuck we're going to do. And nobody believed it. In fact, there was two people that believed it. These guys were here for 20 fucking years.
Okay. The rest of the team did not buy in. All right. But because I had those two that bought in, when we brought new people in,
those two that bought in would capture that third one.
Okay. So, mission first, outcome first.
This is what we're going to do.
Vision casting. We're going to do this. We're going to do this.
This is how we're going to do it.
“You're going to have a percentage of people that are going to be pumped.”
Okay. And then you're going to make those people. You're going to pull them in real close. You're going to communicate with them more. You're going to meet with them more.
And then what's going to happen is a few of the other people will see that there's like a little club forming and they want to be a part of the club. Okay. So they'll kind of adapt. Not always, but most of the time.
And the rest of the people will wash out. And what will happen is, as you start to bring in new people, you're going to intentionally put those people with the people who have bought in. And keep them away from the people who are sort of bought out that are kind of bodies at that time.
And over time, you're going to continue to replace people. And then what's going to happen is the vision is going to become so clear and so strong. And there's so much evidence that you're moving that direction that the team is automatically bought in.
Okay.
So it's always mission first.
It's always outcome first. And the important thing is to tie into. What they are going to gain from that outcome being achieved. And it's not just pay. Okay.
It's not just pay. It's it's mission. What are we going to do? We're going to do this. This is and by the way, the bigger the mission, the more inspiration.
Okay. Nobody wants to work for. A stone Mason that says, hey, we're going to build a three foot wall and it's going to be a thousand miles long. Nobody wants to do that.
But you take the same guys who have the same skills. And you say, we're going to build the most beautiful cathedral that's ever existed. And people are going to come from a thousand miles. They're going to come from all over the earth to visit this because it's going to be so beautiful.
That's a much bigger mission that inspires their best work. It's going to stand for a thousand years. Exactly. So so to answer your question, you know, getting back away from this.
Very simply mission first.
How much self reflection, I guess, goes into making sure you know what the fucking mission is before it gets communicated then. Well, you better know what the fucking, you better know where you're leading your team before you fucking go in and talk to him. Yeah.
Don't even get on the boat yet. Damn. Like, bro, what are you leading them towards? Yeah.
“Like, are you are you just telling them to fucking punch numbers into a screen?”
That's, that's not, that's not real, dude. So yeah, what is the mission? What are we trying to accomplish? You start with the outcome. We're trying to get here.
Then you build the map, the best to your ability of how we're going to get here. Okay. Back in the early days when we were starting first form, I had this diagram that I drew. And funny enough, it's pretty much exactly what happened. But I would draw the diagram and I said, okay, right now we have this.
But we're going to create this and it's going to create that and it's going to create this. And this is where the careers are going to be and those of you to buy in. This is where it's going to be and then we're going to take, we're going to go back. And we're going to take this part of the business that we're starting with and we're going to scale that out. Okay.
So I draw this diagram so that everybody could see it and I explain it. And dude, to be completely honest with you, I don't know what the fuck I was doing. It was the best I knew at the time. Okay. But we made it happen.
And we made it happen because people bought in. And along the way, there were little pivots that happened. Okay. Well, that's not going to work. The things the way that we drew it up for the last three years.
So let's pivot to this way. But we'll still get to where we're going. And having a clear understanding of the outcome and a general understanding of how we're going to do it is extremely important before you ever even talk to your fucking team. You have to know that. Yeah.
Last follow up on this too. Like for example, like your fuck the security company. Like you, you need before you, you know, I know we have a team already. Yeah. Okay.
“But you need to know the fucking outcome.”
Like what the fuck is this? What is the purpose of this? Oh, yeah. Right. And it has to be communicated all the time.
We're going to do this. And this is how we're going to do it. And this is where the roles are going to be. And those of you that work in here, you're going to be these people. That's how every great organization is built.
Every great fucking leader. That's what they do. Nick Sabin walks in the locker room when he was coaching and says, We're going to win the fucking national title. And this is how we're going to do it.
And he's classrooms it out. And everybody knows what they got to do. And the players either went in and they executed or they got fucking cut. And that's no different than a professional organization of business. So it's, yeah, bro, you have to know the vision.
And you have to have at least a rough idea of how it's going to get there. And you have to possess the ability to have the nuance along the way. This is getting into another question. But to have the nuance and understanding of if something's actually going to work. Or it's not going to work.
Is it hard or is it impossible?
Right? Like, and a lot of people think that things that are hard are impossible. And that's the problem. Right? So things get hard.
And then they'll switch to pivot too fast. You're not giving in enough time to grow, bro. Like the analogy of the bamboo tree. Okay? You plant the bamboo tree in the ground.
And for five fucking years, nothing happens. That doesn't mean that nothing is happening. That means you can't see it happening. Okay? And after five years, the thing grows 80 feet and six weeks.
Okay? Same thing with farmers. If farmers went out and they planted their seeds in the field. And they went out there the next day and they said nothing happened. And then they went out there the next day and they said nothing happened.
And they went out there third day and said, fuck, I got to plow the field and replay it.
The ground's bucked up. You're going to starve. Right?
“So you have to understand and have the ability to know the difference between something that's”
just difficult now or impossible. And you've got to be able to pivot around those things. Right? I was asking the question about like truly knowing the mission. I guess for this question, you know, you talked about the people who you call them, like,
"I out from it." Right? How do you not take that personal? How do you not take somebody not buying into the vision? How do you not take that personal?
If it's clearly, you understand, like, how do you do with that? That's your ego. Okay? I don't think there's anyone I want to take it personally. I fucking took it personally.
Every time someone fucking left our company, the first ten years.
Of 99 to fucking probably 2012-13. I fucking took it personally. You don't believe in me. Right? Fuck you.
Right? Okay? That's useful. But you don't want to live like that because you've got to understand that not everybody cares about your thing, the way you care about your thing.
Okay? Now, you can help the right people care a lot about your thing and they will. But there's going to be certain people that have other priorities and they want to live a different life and they don't share the same dreams that you have. And you have to understand that's okay.
And if you keep this mentality of fuck them, when ends up happening is all the people that used to work for you fucking hate you. Okay? Which is not good because you spent all this time around these people. These are good people.
These are people that you loved when they were there.
“You should, those are important people and you want to keep those relationships positive.”
And those are, that's an important thing. And so that happened to me probably 2013, 14, where my intent went from just growing the business to developing them to be successful. Regardless of if they stayed or they went. And ironically, when that happened, we had more great people stay and we had more great people by end. And we had people that wanted to be here.
So like, you know, yeah, dude, in the beginning you're going to take things personal because it feels very personal. But you don't want to live your life with that kind of anger and that kind of bitterness because like dude, it will burn you down later. So the faster that you can like understand that people have different priorities and they're going to live their own lives. And all you can do is lead them, the best that you can lead them. And if they make a different choice, that's okay.
The better your company's going to operate and, by the way, the more fun and more fulfillment you're going to have with yourself and your current team and the people who come and go. You know, 100% on question I had on this question.
So you always talk about you have to give this big vision to your employees and where we are headed like you do here.
And then they see them's their role in that whole configuration and they have to level up and then everybody levels up. What happens if, for example, let's say if this is a small barber shop or let's say your situation of having one store and they do not really have a big mission. They just want to operate in that location very efficiently and they want the workers to do the best job. It's okay.
“What would you do in that situation because they don't really have a big vision?”
Okay, so I'll use the example of a restaurant. Okay. There are going to be people inside an effective restaurant that serves a great product that all they ever do is cook the fucking french fries. And as long as they cook amazing fries, then they have a place in the company. You see what I'm saying?
Okay.
So they're valuable. Yeah. Yeah.
And you're vision casting them.
“They let's say the owner doesn't want to open a second location.”
So how would you conduct the meetings? Like what's the vision you're giving to them? Then then then that becomes okay if we're at a position where let's say I don't want to set the world on fire and I want to have one. I want to have one particular restaurant. Then the meetings start to change focus about how to make sure that we continue to fucking operate at the high standard, which is providing the best customer experience.
Making sure that we handle things this way.
Doing things, you know, it leaks.
Exactly. No leaks in the bucket. Yeah. Exactly. So the point is like there is no just chill spot.
You know what I'm saying? No, everything has to be done. Everything will fall apart. Yeah. Yeah.
Everything will fall apart. Let's just say you are a single unit restaurant tour. And you don't meet with your team about the quality of the food, the quality of the service, the quality of the drinks, the speed at which they get seated, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. The restaurant will fail.
“So you have to stay intense about the things that you do well.”
Okay. Ideally, if you open a restaurant right like our barbershop, I mean you would want, you would want that to be high demand. That's true. Because if it's in high demand, you could charge where money, you could make more profit.
But if you're a barbershop and you cut amazing hair, like we had the barbershop question last time.
You know, you do an amazing cut, but you also do a foam shave and you offer a drink and you do all these things perfectly. What's going to happen is the word of mouth is going to spread so much that you end up having a line to come in the barbershop. And then the way that you regulate the line is instead of doing it for 30 bucks, you do it for 60. Some people won't do that, but you'll have enough business backlog to where they're going to continue. They're going to pay that price and you're going to make more money without being overwhelmed.
“And that's what great restaurants do, right?”
Like the best restaurants, I mean in our area, they're fucking hard to get into because everybody wants to get into them and guess what they aren't. They aren't cheap. And they make a lot of money. So, you know, when you're asking about that, that's how you got to look at that kind of thing. Okay. Guys, I was, we got better today.
Yeah, we got better today, man. Guys, Andy, that is all I got. Alright guys, well, we will see you tomorrow for CTI. Don't be a ho, let's try the show. We're sleeping on the floor, now my jury box froze, fuck up, fuck up, fuck up, stop counting millions in the code bad.
It's booted slow, got up on bank road, can't vote, doesn't know, hit, shot, case, closed.
