#140 - Cody Grandadam - The Flashlight Guy Who Lit Up Big Box Retail

0:00 So I have my company, my flashlight company. I've got about 15 employees in Peru. Now I own the building that I'm in that's got 30 employees. And then I have a, just, you know, the restaurant, all these other things that have stemmed off because of the flashlight company. So all in all, there's probably two or 300 people in my area that are working because of the flashlight company. But then I go to China and there's two or 300 people at one factory. And you know, there's like a whole ecosystem that was created because of this. guy from a little town of 10,000 people decided he's going to sell a flashlight.

0:52 Welcome back for another fun episode here. um Today's guest, I'm pumped. I love when we have people that have a great story to tell um about an entrepreneur experience and how they're living their life. And when they drive from Illinois to come have some fun in Cincinnati and to hang out studio, I'm pumped about a conversation. But today's guest, he's the definition of grit and hustle. And I love those two words. I'm going to make almost him say his last names. It's a hell of a last name. Grandadim? Grand Adam. Just like it's supposed to be. Okay, so he got involved here. So today's guest, the definition of grit and hustle. Cody Grand Adam, he started with nothing. No money, no credit, and built Whites All into a multimillion dollar brand that's now on the shelves at Walmart, Target, and beyond.

1:36 But that's not the special part. He's a retail master, a product innovator and a real entrepreneur who knows how to get things done without making excuses. My type of man. We're gonna dive into what you built from scratch, what it really takes to break into big box retail. and the mindset he uses to win again and again. Cody, welcome to the necessary entrepreneur. That was good. That was good. I almost want to play it back. You want to do it? That was nice. That was nice. Um, and you're the flashlight guy. That's what they call me. I didn't give myself that name, believe it or not. how the hell did this happen without us saying, man, in the beginning and all that shit, because you do have Adam in there. And Adam in it used to be Adam, you know we add the gran later.

2:18 oh You became grand. like when you're sitting, you have this cool 400,000 foot facility we were hearing about in your hometown in Illinois. And we're talking about the distillery and all the cool cultural things that you're doing. When you're sitting at that distillery who's a tenant and you're rolled up next to a guy, you've known him for three or four years and it's like, man, the context, everybody understands it. If he's like, man, where'd all this start? How the hell did you become you? And all the stuff falls away and you don't have any agenda. What comes out of your mouth next? Well, I guess it's all about context, right? I guess it would kind of, I'd have to understand why they're asking that, right? They're talking about the building itself, right?

2:59 Like I think I mentioned earlier, most of the things that have happened has always been out of necessity, right? And so when it comes to the building that I'm in today, I was just a tenant at one point, right? And so it became a financial decision. Like I can pay $100,000 a year for rent. Or I just buy the building for half a million bucks. Right. And so that's what we ended up doing. Right. And so, but how did it get to an abandoned old clock factory to where it is today? Right. And that was just through honestly, just thinking about what I want to see with it, where I want to take it to, and then just doing it one thing at a time. Right. And so I knew like this building, everyone knew it.

3:40 Right. It's the West clocks. Like everybody, if, If I'm telling someone to come to my office, I don't give them the address. Hey, it's at the West clocks building. And so, but the 30 years before I bought it, it was all, it was boarded up, right? They closed it down. The city was like, we need to tear this building down. Right. And so for me, um, you know, I felt like there was so much opportunity. Right. And so when I bought the building, even, I think there's articles that were written that I was interviewed, right. And they would ask me, what is, what is your dream with this building? What do you want to do? And I just spoke it out to the universe, right? To, just put it into existence. And so it's, it's cool because exactly what I was talking about in that article, like, I want to do a, you know, uh, an event center.

4:23 want to have a restaurant and a uh bar and pizza and all this stuff. We did all those things. Right. And so although I didn't have a game plan per se, right. I kind of knew like, Hey, I wanted to end up on the moon. Right. I wasn't really sure how to get there, but like that was always on the front of my mind. And so, you know, it's funny you mentioned that the distillery, that was the very first tenant that I got in the middle of the building. Right. But that was a catalyst to get all the other things. Right. And so I think at the end of the day, like you, have to know where you want to go, know where you want to go, where you're headed. And then you just need that first catalyst and you just keep growing and going from there. so that honestly, between all of the businesses that I've done, that's how it's all, that's how they've all gone.

5:08 I've got an idea what I want to do. I look five years, 10 years ahead of time, and then I just take that first step. Right. And so like, I think if we, if we went down into the whole story behind it, there's probably pivotal moments and different things, but then the day it was just deciding what I wanted, taking that first step and then figuring out along the way. What do we say for folks as we're talking about business and the journey and entrepreneurship? Because I had the vision of this podcast. I think great things come from originally us wanting to do something with it, not wanting a brand and what, but I just said, Hey, I think if we can understand the stories and the contextual background of all these people that now they just look like overnight success, like this guy's got this huge flashlight company and he was on that podcast and I'm at Target and now I see it and you can connect the dots.

5:57 But the story of all the failure and all the stuff in between that when people are like, man, how is it? You're making all this money. Your life's great and stuff must be awesome, right? And then you walk away in this quiet moment and you probably somewhere inside, not condescending, not judgmental, but it's kind of like, if they only knew what it took. Yeah, it's like, it's like when someone says, you know, it must be nice. Right. And then the thing today though, like, especially with social media, like you mentioned, that's all you see. You see the good stuff. You see the nice stuff, right? You see the fancy cars, you see like all the trips and different things with these influencers, right? They're not going to share like all their struggles. And so then everyone that thinks like, that's the way that that's the way that it is. Right.

6:37 And so they think, okay, these guys are just doing great. They have no more issues. They have no more problems. And so. it's natural for them to meet someone like yourself or someone like me and then have that same exact mindset like, man, it must be nice. Right. But, it is, it is nice. But, but like it, takes work, right? It takes effort, right? It's like, it's like in a six pack, which I have a six pack, but like you've got to go through the discomfort for a very long time with absolutely no results. Right. And I think that's why I know that's why people fail in business because You know, I think it was probably two years at least before I pulled any money out of my company, my flash site company, right?

7:18 And most people wouldn't be willing to do that. But I knew like this is what it, this is what's required of me to get to where I want to go. How did you know that? I saw on your Instagram recently, like it's fun. I can always see when people are going somewhere from a checker, directed perspective, go to their Instagram and you'll see an evolution of content. It's like you're on point. You're getting on point with content, right? But you had a quote about Jim Rohn. So listen here, Mr. Junior Grant Cardone going on your private jet and all this stuff. but you're, there's a picture and there's a quote about Jim Rohn. And I read this, that you put that there, because anytime you hear somebody or see somebody put a quote for an inspirational figure from the past, we're not just using it, that means something to you.

8:01 Do you remember what the quote was? It's okay if you don't. Yeah, remind me. So I'm not, I never get the context right, but it's like, you're not gonna, you're not gonna become and change the thing overnight, but you can change the way you think overnight. Right, so it wasn't perfect, but that's in the context of it. Yeah. So, you know, Jim Rohn, because you know, when I, I had my son at 18, right? 18 years old. Actually, I think I was 19 by the time he finally popped out of the oven. you know, we didn't have like the social media that we have today. Right. And so if, if, if I wanted to work on myself, it was on YouTube, right? I'd just be on YouTube at the, night. And Jim Rohn was the guy that I was, I was always watching. Right. Jim Rohn, Zig Ziglar, you know, Brian Tracy, those types of individuals.

8:45 than taught Tony Robbins and different guys. Exactly and and and they all had something in common It was all hey work on yourself more than anything else, right? and I think that was like one of the that now I don't think that is one of the is probably the biggest factor in my success today is that I really focused on working on my mindset my philosophy my my perspective on how I see things and That's what that's what that's what's made everything possible today Isn't that like just full ownership of everything? That's pretty much what we're saying. That's the layman, that's the me and you, these non-incredibly grammatically correct guys, but it's just like, we just take responsibility, right?

9:25 And we realize like we can't wait for anyone. We're the one that has to be the change. Yeah. Yeah. I think that, I think that's a struggle today for a lot of people. Like I know, and you know, I think maybe we shouldn't put them in a box, but like the younger generation specifically, like I've a 20 year old and 18 year old, right? And so my 20 year old is, a lot like me. My 18 year old is two, but my 20 year old, he has a lot of the things that I know are required to be very successful, but they're also the same things that could get you in a little bit of trouble too. So for example, like authority, right? I respect authority, but it's very few and far in between that. I really like people telling me what to do, right?

10:08 But I've learned to accept that. And there's certain individuals, like if the Walmart buyer calls me, he can tell me anything he wants, right? I'm going to, I'm going to drop what I'm doing and do it. Um, but I've realized to come like certain things, take that you have to do those things. Well, my 20 year old hasn't really figured that out yet, right? There, there's certain things of authority. that you have to stay within that lane, right? When the same breath, he has a lot of the other things that are, are required to be a great business person. Um, tenacity, an attitude, right? I think, I think you need a little bit of an attitude to be in business, right? Uh, a chip on his shoulder, right? Like, know, he, he, in my little community, which might the town I work in Peru's got 10,000 people, the town I live in has 1400.

10:55 So everybody knows who I am. Whoever the guy is that runs the dealership that his name's on, they know him. Whoever's built the thing, we know him. That's not bragging, it's just the facts of the thing. So this should be the inspiration. Take your 1400 population town and do the biggest thing. That's right. And it's not, it's usually not that hard to do, right? In 1400 people, but you know, so, you know, my son, he's like, he was a class clown, likes to be the center of attention. Same thing I was, right? In high school, I was a guy joking around, getting in trouble. Um, I was never a bully by any means at all, but I was always trying to be the center of attention.

11:37 And that's cause I always wanted to stand out. Right? So I say something to my son, Hayden, like, Hey, you need to stand out without sticking out. Right? And so like in school to stand out, like you gotta, you gotta make, you gotta be the funny guy. Right? As an adult, I've learned like, okay, I can stand out. I don't have to be the funny guy. I just gotta be making stuff happen. Right? And so that's what I'm talking about with Hayden. Like he's got to channel that energy into something else. Right? And so it's like, I think it's the difference from being like notorious and famous, right? Which I don't want to be famous. I just want to be filthy rich. Right? There you go. Um, but I think that's something that the younger generation is having a hard time figuring out, which they will.

12:20 Is it because it's just this everything is on Front Street and they see all these influencers and appears they're living these big wives and they just want that? Is that a part of it? I think that's a part of it. I think, again, it goes back to what we said before, they're not sharing all the things that it took to get to there. Even look at Logan Paul, Jake Paul, they're building these huge businesses now, way outside of just content creation. But I've been around these individuals, I've been around content creators, and it is hard. 16, 18 hour days that people don't see. It's exhausting. And you've always got to be thinking of ideas, what you're going to post videos and you got post production and marketing. Like it's super difficult.

13:02 Right. But even, even up until recently, I was like, man, that's a, that's the dream job. Just carry a camera around with you, film yourself. But now that I'm around these content creators, like it's a tremendous amount of work. And so I think most kids today, they're not seeing that because they're not out hanging out with these guys. Right. So they're just looking at it as, man, they got this funny video that went viral. I just got to do that same thing. Right? But there's, there's, gotta do it consistently over and over and over and over again. And like we said, like it's delayed gratification. Right? And so, um, at the end of the day, that's what they see. And so that's what they expect. Do you think it's a double-edged sword? Do you think if somebody that had massive credibility in your life would have told you how hard it was going to be, do you think maybe you wouldn't have done it?

13:50 No, because I probably wouldn't have believed them. Right. And I think, I think that's, that's something that you need to, right? You sometimes you just gotta be like, no, I'm going to figure this out. Right. And so like having that chip on your shoulders, I think is really valuable. Um, in fact, when I hire people, I look for people with the chip on their shoulder, like they want to prove something. Um, and so like that's probably the attitude I would have. Right. Because honestly, when I was 19, 20, 21, you know, I was always dabbling in different things, mostly like network marketing, multilevel marketing, and everybody told me that same thing. Like that's never going to work. You're never going to make money. just, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I was like, no, I'm going to do this.

14:31 Like, what do you know? And that was just me. It wasn't confidence. It was just me, like almost like that authority thing. You're not going to tell me what to do or how to do it. I'm going to figure it out. You do. Right. And so that's why I think it's very important. And that's the difference I think is. That's why it was important for me to be sitting in my, in my office at night watching Jim Rohn and Zig Ziglar, like working on this muscle, right? working on the brain, the, the, philosophy. that way when those circumstances come up, yeah, you, have the confidence, almost arrogance to be like, whatever. Right. But then you know enough in your mind, like if it's to be, it's up to me. Like I got to make this happen.

15:11 Does manifestation feel too like woo woo? Not for me. like anybody that knows me and I don't talk about this much because people think like whatever you're crazy, but like I have man literally have manifested almost everything in my life good or bad and like I can say that like in anybody that's around me, they know that to be true, right? And so like I'm a firm believer in what we think about we bring about right and even if in good and bad Right? Good times, bad times, all those different things. I think that most of the things are within our control. And so I'm not saying it's a matter of like, man, if you think about it you put it on the world, it's just going to happen.

15:54 But I think like the activity goes where the thoughts flow. Right? And so that's what, that's when I say manifestation, that's, that's more or less what I'm talking about. Like, cause if it was real, I would have been, I would have won the big, the big multi hundreds of millions of dollars worth of lottery. Right? That hasn't happened yet. you're actually taking the action to have a shot at doing that through work. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Filthy rich. So, you know, we talked about this earlier and it's about time. Right. And so there, we all have the same amount of time in a day. Right. But we're all going to spend our time based upon what we want to get out of that.

16:36 Right. And so like, for example, if you want a six pack, you're going to spend some time in the gym, right? If you, whatever it is, um, when it comes to being filthy rich, you can buy your time. Right. And so I talk about this a lot. I'm a type of guy that I always need to be productive. Like I cannot watch TV. I cannot surf the internet even now I can surf the internet, but I also have my phone on my hand looking at something else or I'm on the phone doing something else. And that's been a problem for me. Right. And so it's very hard for me to relax. But what I found out was when I started making a little bit more money now on a Saturday, when I would be cutting the grass, I can hire someone to cut my grass, right?

17:16 Instead of running to Home Depot to pick up stuff, I have someone doing that stuff, right? And so now on a Saturday, I actually relax now because I look around and I say, I'm still being productive. I'm still getting things done. Right? And so if you're filthy rich, right? You can afford that on such a higher level. Right? And then secondly, I love helping people, right? Like I get, I get great satisfaction of seeing people do well, right? Money can help that in a huge way. Right. And I think about all the problems that we have, almost every single problem besides health can be fixed with money, almost everything.

17:56 Right. And so you've to be, I don't need to be filthy rich to help fix my problems, but I to be filthy rich to help my brother, my mom, my family, you people around me. So that's, that's, that's, I'm not ashamed to say that. Like I want to be filthy rich. um The since you're the flashlight guy because we dig in here to the business part and and help people learn all the things that you know See, it's not necessarily what you didn't know when you started you already touched on earlier. It's that you kept going but When this all started What I know about these entrepreneurial adventures not necessarily mine, but everybody gets it across from um You just didn't know what it was gonna be I had no clue and you probably I don't know if you made an organized business plan, but if you did, it was lit on fire.

18:47 Yeah, I did make a business plan. My wife was actually in school when I started my business and she was taking business administration and she actually turned my business plan in for a grade and I got a C- so it wasn't a great business plan. So did it work out the way that business plan said? I pretty much built my business exactly to what that business plan was, to a T. So it worked? It did, yeah. Why do you think it worked that that young guy who didn't have a bunch of entrepreneur experience maybe you did maybe you're cutting grass maybe you did you Yeah, yeah, yeah, I started my lawn care business at 12 years old. so, that's a funny story too. Basically I asked my dad for a new pair of shoes.

19:29 And like yourself, you said earlier, like we didn't grow up with money. Now we weren't poor, but we were broke, right? There was never money at the end of the month. And so I think the shoes were like 100 bucks, 120 bucks. And my dad probably had 120 bucks, but not for a pair of shoes. And so he said, Cody, how about this? I'll go buy you a lawnmower, mow our grass and you can use it to mow anybody else's and you buy your own pair of shoes. And so that's what he did. You know, I was 12 years old and I went out and got five or six lawns and I'm, you know, I think I'm in the fifth, I don't know how old you are at 12. think the fifth or sixth grade. And so I'm out cutting grass and I was making pretty dang good money. Like some of those were 20 bucks, some were 10 bucks. I was making over a hundred bucks a week at 12 years old.

20:12 But then I realized like, man, this isn't a business. This is a job. Like if I don't cut the grass, I'm not getting paid. Right. So then I hired my sister and backed in like minimum wage was like six bucks an hour. So I gave her like 10, she was happier than anything and I made leveraged income. Right. And so that's the point where I learned like, okay, there's a business that you can start, but it's not really a business until it grows in spite of you. Right now granted sort of my flashlight company and to this day, like that's a business that is growing because of me. Right. But that I'm working on that. No. Talk about that. Yeah. So like, you know, when I started my flashlight company, it was just me, right. And a little 10 by 10 office and you know, I hired one more guy.

20:53 Uh, but my biggest thing is like, I've never been trained really on how to sell product, how to run a business or anything. And so the way I got started in the, the importing is I worked for someone else when I was 20, 20 years old. Um, the guy was hiring a marketing manager, $60,000 a year. was like, man, if I get this job, I'm gonna be rich. And so I applied, never called me, called him, never called me back. And finally, he got so tired of me. He's like, come on in, I'll give you an interview. And he's like, I can't hire you for the marketing position. You're not qualified, but I've got this little battery company I started and I would love to pay you just to go into convenience stores and sell them to these convenience stores batteries. And I'm like, I'll do it.

21:34 Started about at 200 bucks a week, but I can make my own hours. Right. And so I did that, but no one trained me. My training was literally fill up the van with batteries, go into a convenience store and then develop a relationship. Right. But there wasn't even that. Like that's just, I knew how to do that. And so I did that and, I was successful at that. We opened up a bunch of accounts, but at the end of the day, I never had proper training. Right. And so most of the things that I've done, I just did by figuring it out. So it's, it's very difficult for me to train someone to do what I did. And when, when you don't have that ability, it's very hard to create systems and processes. And so that's how I really have been, literally I've been going for the past 14 years in my flashlight company, right?

22:20 When it comes to product development, I'm developing the products. When it's coming to calling on the big retailers, I'm calling on the big retailers. So now I'm doing it, I'm looking for other talent ah that actually learn to do the things through a process and systems. And then eventually, and hopefully in the near future, the business will run. I can, I can literally work in it, on it rather than only in it. Right. And so that's, that's the next goal for the company. What do think the challenge is that you figured out the approach? See, the approach isn't some system to train. The approach is, I just went and did it. But see, we actually hear that from all the so-called gurus.

23:02 If you really dig deep, whether it's a Steve Jobs, all these, Amazon and Bezos still say they operate their company as if it's day one. Right? It's that grind piece. It's you have to do all the things and get down the weeds. If the characteristic in you that it took to win and to build this thing, if you couldn't train it. How do you train a system around it? Is it a diluted version? Because wouldn't you want to just package what you know and just give it to people to help build and change their lives and improve your thing? Yeah. And you know, you know, that's something that we're starting to actually do is, is help other people to get to where we are today.

23:44 Right. And so it's like, well, that's kind of like counterintuitive. Like you just said, like you didn't develop these systems and now you're going to help other people. Like that, how does that work out? Right. And so at the end of the day, you know, when it creates, when it comes to creating the systems and processes, you really need someone from the outside to look in. Right? Cause like perspective is when two people are looking at the same thing, but they see two different things. And so I recently read a book called, the blue ocean strategy. you read that? So good. Incredible book. Right. Who wrote that? Um, I should know that, um, incredible book.

24:24 So I read that book, right. And I'm to be honest, like when it comes to my flashlight company, if someone's like, Hey, what, how'd all this happen? Like, how did you get in these stores? I never really had an answer. And then I read blue ocean strategy and I was like, that's exactly how I grew my business, but I didn't know I was doing it that way. Right. It just so happened to be that way. And so when I'm thinking about developing the systems and the strategies, I obviously have strategies that I'm already doing, right? And I do have systems, right? They're just documented. They're not just, they're just not documented systems that I could physically duplicate. But if someone from the outside comes in, then they can say, okay, these are the things that you're doing that are working. Now let's create a system to where other people can do that same thing.

25:07 Right. Jump in there. Who is it Dave? I'm not going to pronounce it right. Renee Malborgne. I think there's, I think there's their coauthors. W Chan Kim. Okay, yep. So but it yet seems like it seems like they're divergent thoughts Doesn't it so you think someone from the outside can come listen to you? Yeah, almost like a ghostwriter Yeah. So, and cause even like when it comes to the blue ocean strategy, I hired a young kid. Um, I think he's probably 23, 24 years old, just, just applied to my business and he sat in my office for like six months and he just kind of. Just paid attention and I would tell him like, you know, I'm not sure how we're getting to this, why I'm doing this and all these other things.

25:53 And he's like, Cody, read this book and those blue ocean strategy. And I read it and I'm like, yeah, that's exactly what. how I grew my business. He's like, yeah, that's, that's how you grew, grew your business. Like it was very obvious to him. There's a documented system that he listened to and say, here's the system. Yeah. Right. And so I think that's what it takes as someone from the outside to look in. think that's why, like, you know, I think, um, consultants sometimes get a bad rep, right. And, um, but on the same breath, sometimes uh a lot of times it takes someone from outside to look in and to them, it's super obvious, right? I meet with entrepreneurs all the time that are developing products and there's just certain things that are like, so obvious to me.

26:35 And like, I say it out loud and they're like, never thought about that. I'm thinking about like, how did you not think about that? Right? We're in our bubble and we're engulfed in like what, is going on today. Right. And again, it comes down to working on the business. Right. And so like in my flashlight company, there's, there's always a priority. Right. And so I'm handling those priorities. So I'm not thinking about the other things about working in the business. Right. And so that's what we're, that's what we're really starting to focus on is you know, bringing in more people and then creating strategies around what's been working. you say more people, more people to work in your business or other businesses.

27:16 in my business, right? So like, for example, when I started my company, again, no money, like negative money, right? There was no money in my checking account. I didn't have a vehicle, right? I was poor, like. You know everybody's listening to this and they're like, how? Yeah, so how so I started that other company. Like I said, I worked for them for three or four years. Um, I got hired as a sales guy, $200 a week. And, um, I grew up in the first like 60 or 90 days just by going into convenience stores. I opened up like 30 or 40 accounts and my boss was tickled pink. Right. Is that a thing they say here? Tickled pink. going to. You're bringing it from me. Let's go.

27:56 That just means you're happy, right? Excited. and I think I did like $6,000 in sales and he was happy as a clam, but I remembered something that Jim Rome taught me, right? We don't, don't get paid for the time or the hour. We get paid for the value. And so I knew to myself, okay, I brought this guy $6,000 in sales. If we're making 50%, he made $3,000. It took me 60 days to do that. Right? He owns the company. He can't pay me very much off that top. And so, um, Yeah, I lost my, what was it? 200 a week I started at. That's okay. Yeah. Right. 200. And then so anyway, so then my dad said to me, says, Cody, you know, you're going to these stores, developing these relationships, but the guy's only buying for one store.

28:40 Call someone with a couple of hundred stores. I'm like, all right, well, who, who do I call? He's like, well, I always see these gas stations on the side of the road called come and go, give them a buzz. Happened get the buyer on the phone. He answered the phone. And, at this time, I'm like 20 years old and, I'm like, all I'm going to get a meeting with this guy. got a meeting with them and he ended up buying a counter display for every single store. It was an $85,000 order. And that's when I was like, man, it literally took the same work to sell this guy. Then did it sell the one guy that owns one convenience store down the road. And that that's when everything shifted. That's when everything changed. Right. And so I did that for that company and I grew the sales from literally zero to 4 million in three or four years.

29:20 And at the time I was not only doing the sales, but I started importing the product. sourcing all the goods. Yeah. And so remember it was a battery company and the problem with the batteries is it's just like a gallon of milk. You're not going into buying a gallon of milk until you need one. Right. And so I would. Remember I had no sales training, right? But what I knew how to do was develop relationships and build friendships because I genuinely like that. And so I was building these relationships with these big buyers. Dana, for example, at come and go, it doesn't matter how much he likes me. He cannot buy more batteries. He's got a whole display. And so I said, well, Dana, what else do you buy? I buy motor oil. buy flashlights.

30:01 I'm like, flashlights. They need batteries. So then I literally just went online, started sourcing flashlights. And that's when like the whole company sales change, right? That's when we really increased sales. And so that's how I got into the flashlight business, right? I started buying them for that company, but long story short, I was doing 4 million in sales, but I was making about $45,000 a year. Now I know why, why I'm getting into this. And I had a company vehicle, not one, but two and two of them put together were probably only worth about five grand. Gas card, insurance, cell phone bill. And so when I left that company, which I didn't really have a plan when I left, it was just a, it was just a heated thing.

30:41 Um, and, and, and looking back, it was, was a pretty petty thing, but remember I was 20, 23 years old. Right. And so I remember I had that authority problem. And so when I left my company cars didn't go with me. My cell phone didn't go with me, right? And I was so stubborn. was like, I don't care. Like I'm not going back there. And so I literally went down to the unemployment office, filed unemployment. And in the back of my mind, I'm like, he's going to call me back anyways. Right. But I just need something. Right. And so that's why I didn't have the car when I started my company, because he took it away. And, uh, long story short, my neighbor that I lived next to me for five or six years, um, this is why I say like a lot of good things happen.

31:24 from necessity or bad situations. He liked to drink, but he was a successful business owner. And so he had three DUIs in his life and his last DUI, he's lost his license for about two years. And so I would give him a ride to work every single morning and I'd give him a ride home every single night. And every morning he'd hear about my, what's going to happen that day, what's going on. And every night he'd hear about like, I, I closed this account. I did this. Right. And so I said to him, I said, man, I quit my job, man. What am I going to do? He's like, start your own flashlight company. Like how? I have no idea what I'm doing. He's like, do you know where to buy them? I'm like, yeah. He's like, do you know where to sell to? I'm like, yeah. He's like, well, you got half figured out.

32:05 I'll let you have my little office in the West clocks building. You can have it for free. You can use my secretary and let's just get started. And you know, that's, that's what we did. Right. And so I tell people if I hadn't worked for the other company, I'm a hundred percent confident today. I would not own a flashlight company. I know I, I think, I know I would be successful doing something. Right. And so what, what makes me not feel like guilty about that is because I developed that flashlight company, but it was for somebody else. Right. And so now when I started my company, like just, I just gotta do it for myself. Right. Now granted, I still had no idea what I was doing. Right. But that's why I didn't have a vehicle.

32:47 So if you wouldn't have had, I guess this person, they weren't a mentor, but they were in a mentoring position because they said, hey, you know how to do these two things. So that's what a mentor does. um If you didn't have that at that moment, the idea of the thing doesn't happen, right? It doesn't. It might've been something else to your point, right? But that thing doesn't happen. But then everything that you did before as the employee. this timing of the things, it's really, really important, right? The good, the bad, you put it all together. um You didn't intentionally, you just lived next to the guy. That wasn't intent, so you spoke earlier that you're relationship person, that's what you knew how to do. It's the same way that you drove for the guy.

33:30 Because if you hadn't made some connection with him, if you guys didn't get along, if he didn't like you, it doesn't matter, he wouldn't have had you drive him. You probably weren't getting paid, he might have like bought you some cigarettes or paid for some gas or something, right? um You wouldn't have had that relationship with yourself. This is why taking full, transparent responsibility for your life is important. How you engage with people, relationships. Are you a naturally curious person? Yeah, for sure. Of course. Yep. Do you reflect on that much? You know, I think more so now, right? Because I think we, we, we, touched on this earlier in the hallway, like, you know, I have ADHD. I think a lot of entrepreneurs do, right?

34:11 And so like, I, I get distracted really easily. And I think the one thing I've done and I don't, I don't regret any of this, but like shiny object syndrome, right? And so I'm just curious. And I also have that like fear of missing out. And so I always want to be part of things, right? And so. You know, now more than ever, I think to myself like, okay, is this something like, always have to think about my long-term goals, right? And like, is this curiosity going to get me in trouble? Right? Like, maybe this will work. I'm just, I just want, I'm curious to see if I'm curious to see if it will work. Right? Now I kind of have to really look back at things and say, okay, this is cool.

34:52 This is fun. Maybe it's going to make some money, but like, is it distracting me for what my, my big mission is my big goal? of discipline. So that that guy that was in that mentorship role when you said well how would I do it? I'm wondering without him saying the things he said if you wouldn't have been able to move beyond the how and I asked that because I see so many people get stuck there. Yeah, I mean looking back, you know, like I said, I was 24 years old and so I think that if if if we didn't get past the how like he didn't give me any real information Right other than hey, you can use my secretary. You can use my office We have printers in that but he gave me the confidence to be like dude.

35:37 You can do it Just use my secretary right now. Obviously so many things that came in about and then By that time, I'm like, I got to figure this out. Right. And so like, you know, Damon, John wrote a book called the power of broke, right. And a lot of that has to do with sometimes that's, that's a very powerful tool to be broke because your backs against the wall and you have to figure it out. And so I think between like all my personal development training at 19, 20, 21, and then having someone like Mike saying, Hey, you can do this. That, that gave me enough confidence. And then I dove in deep enough. That's where I'm like, I've got to figure this out now. I got to make it happen. Yeah. Do you were tied in to, did you want to change your life and live a certain life?

36:20 Was that the big why at the end of the road? Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. So another catalyst in my life, I think was, you know, joining a network marketing company at such a young age. And so I worked for a company then work for them. was a independent contractor for called prepaid legal. And so they're still in business today. They've been around for, think, 50 years. They sold legal insurance. Basically you pay a little monthly premium and you've got lawyers on retainer. ah I still pay the membership today, but anyways, I never made a ton of money at that business. I probably never made a hundred grand in the whole time I was there, but I can tell you hundreds of millions of dollars have been made because of that business.

37:03 Because when you, when you join a network marketing company, the people that are successful in network marketing is highly dependent on the people that you bring into the business. And so in order to grow or elevate, you have to literally take people with you. Right? be promoted in network marketing companies, typically you gotta basically have someone do exactly what you did to get up to the next level. Where in corporate America, like if you want to get a promotion, you gotta take someone else's job. And if they didn't get promoted, they're going out the back door demoted. And so at the end of the day, um, see that's the ADHD. think I just saw a score there. So at the end of the day, you know, that was the company that said, invest in yourself back to the Y.

37:46 Right. And so I remember, I'll never forget this day, my wife and I were in, I think it was in South Carolina and we're, around a table, right? There's, was a circle and we were all sitting around telling our stories. And John Malat was there, which he's a good friend of mine today still. And he said, you know, the, the way to be successful in network marketing is you have to have a reason. You have to have a why you have to have a why so big, if you literally think about it. And if you think about having it taken away from you, like you'll, you'll cry. Right. And so we went around that we went around the whole table and I got, got to me. And at the time I'm like, I said, maybe 1920, I've got Hayden, my, my, my, my oldest son already.

38:28 And it was at that very moment where I was like hearing everybody's story and it just clicked. And I'm like, man, if, I want to give my family the life that I always wanted, it won't, it's not going to happen unless it's up to me. Right. And so that was the point where I said, okay, this is my why. I want to give my wife literally whatever she wants. Right. I want to have that ability and I want to give my kids whatever they want. Right. And now as I've grown up, like I realized that you can't give your kids everything they want. What are you going to be creating? But that's when that why came about. And then after that point, like, I'm sure you've seen it in the books and all the things, but like I had my wipe on my refrigerator when he opened the door.

39:09 Right. I had my, when I, before I went to bed at night, brushing my teeth, those on my mirror. Right. And so like that gets back to the manifestation. People are division board, right? But I didn't, I didn't think like if I put this on my fridge, it's going to happen because of that. But what that did was it allowed me to be, you know, dedicated to the process without any results, because that's what stuck in my mind. I was like, that's what I want. And so when I started making decisions like, okay, 20 years old, my buddies are partying, right? I've got a meeting on a Saturday in Chicago for. for prepaid legal. I didn't want to go to that prepaid legal meeting, but I would open my fridge and see, I want to be a millionaire by 25.

39:51 You know what I mean? So that was always in the back of my mind. And so then it was easy to make decisions. Hey, this going to help me get closer or further away from that why? Right? And so I think a why, a reason for doing things is like one of the most important things. So it's Simon's next says right? Yeah. He said it all starts with your wife. Um, I go back to, I'm a sap for some, some love story movies, man. Every once in a while. I don't know what you, you, you, you're probably watching some horror movies or something, man. I don't know. Watch many movies anymore. I like a good horror movie. Okay, as long as it's not like the You know like the the poltergeist kind of movies, you know, I'm saying like Not that I'm not a fan of things that could actually happen right like I'm not afraid to like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre right?

40:40 But like when it comes to like Annabelle the doll and getting possessed and stuff. I'm like now no, thank you, you know Yeah, I'm for that I go back all the time, I think to get tired of it, but sometimes I'm in these meetings and sales meetings and I don't like motivation, I like inspiration. I think we can all inspire each other, but I go back to this moment in the notebook. Yeah, never seen the notebook, but my wife has. oh so this gives you guys something to talk about at offspring. When he's jamming out to it, like, Hey, I was talking about the notebook today. Um, and so there's this moment where She's deciding.

41:22 who she's going to be with what guy there's the high school sweetheart that everybody said would be nothing that he ended up having the chip on a shoulder and he did turn the house into the thing and the audio and then but then through wife she's evolved and listen to her wealthy family to be with the rich guy but she's not really in love so that whole saps but she spends a weekend when she's engaged she's supposed to be getting married to the rich guy but she goes back she bails out for a weekend and she goes back for a weekend with the high school sweetheart guy. And she shouldn't have done it because then she's torn. The old feelings. But they're outside and she's getting ready to leave. She's like, listen, I'm torn. This is what I'm supposed to do. I'm supposed to be getting married.

42:03 And so she's outside and she's going to leave. She had a great weekend and she's getting in the car. And can still see she's torn and he loves her. And, um, and he said, what do you want? And he, with that, it's not abuser, but he's like, what do you want? Yeah. That's what we're talking about. Yeah. Make a decision for your life and set a point that you're going after and go get it. That's what we're talking about. exactly right. You know, and I think, I think that's how we can make good decisions. Just ask yourself, like, what do you want? Right. And if it's just like me, you know, I've recently lost 120 pounds and, uh, everyone's like, how'd you do that?

42:43 I'm like, it was super easy. Yeah. Right. He's, he's doing good too. Right. It's super losing 120 pounds. It's just as easy as gaining it. Right. It's not a simple cause it's really simple to be like, give me the double cheeseburger fries and whatever else. Yeah, exactly right. I love this conversation. Easy and hard, simple and complicated are two different categories. 100%. Okay. m And so how did I do it? Well, I said to myself, I want to be healthy. having money doesn't matter at all if you're dead. Right. And so like, I don't want to like tie my shoes and then get out of breath anymore. And so like, that's what I wanted. Right. And so now I'm having dinner or whatever, and I want a donut.

43:28 Right. But it's like, okay, Cody, remember what you really want? Like you want to lose weight. You don't want to be that your entire life unhealthy. Right. And so then. I'm not going to make that decision. Then I'm going to, I'm going to skip the donut. but the problem is we'd, we can't really understand what it's like. Cause for example, like you, don't, you're never going to like really know what it's like to die, obviously. Cause until you're there. Right. And so like, it's, it's, it's hard for you. And this is why you have to really work on your mindset. It's hard for you to justify the consequences. I mean, it's easy for you to justify the consequences because you haven't had them yet.

44:08 Right. You know, once you have consequences for doing something, you're probably not going to do that thing again, but there's no consequences with eating a donut. Not maybe for 20 years or down the road. Right. And so like, that's why the mindset is so important and so vital because again, it's, it's, it's delayed. ah it's, delayed satisfaction, but you're, you're dealing with the, um, the issue now. So I use the word reverse engineering and I don't think there's hardly anything in life that we can't really quick say what do you want? You're like okay here's the thing we can reverse engineer from where you want all the way back to where you are. Yeah. And then the intentional decisions and what you can get really busy doing with it say if I do this this happens if I do this this happens you can intentionally figure that out.

44:55 Now you might not know the time, because if you didn't have the experience that it's going to take to lose 120 pounds, that it's going to take to build a business with $10 million in sales, you might not know, but you can see the activity that will lead to it. There's not many things in life that aren't that way in my mind and that clear. Yeah, and it's very binary. Like I said, there's a book called The Slight Edge and it talks just like that. And that's the problem. Like there is a slight edge, right? Like if I say to you, I'm going to go run five miles today, I'm not going to notice any difference in my life, right? I might be a little tired. Right. And that's the slight edge. Same thing if we're eating unhealthy, we're not going to notice any difference until like it's too late.

45:36 And that's like, that's, what I've really thought about lately. Like, okay, I'm 38 years old now. think I'm 38, maybe 39. I'm not 40 though. gray beard says different. I know I threw a 42 on you you came in and you're like come on man. I didn't have my glasses off yet. Now I look really old, right? ah And so, what was I saying? Oh yeah, the slide edge, right? And so ah I don't know what my point was. I just think it's very, we can reverse engineer this stuff. That's right. That's we're saying. Yeah, and so these things, and you can take it back over, but these small things every day that if I go hit up Chick-fil-A or something, man, it tastes good. And that feeds that dope meter, that urge right then.

46:16 Yeah. But if I stack it up and do it for three or four months, there's going to be some big impacts, right? Yeah. I need to tell myself, see, I do this with success in business, and you can't take this back over, but I tell people, I'm like, listen, if you really are going to live A happy life, whatever happy is, that's a fun conversation, right? But if you're gonna be content, truly content, making 50 or 60 or 70 thousand dollars a if you're honestly, like honestly gonna be content, then you should go do that. And you shouldn't feel bad about it. However, if inside of you there is a desire and a want for more, you shouldn't accept.

47:00 Average. You're not gonna be happy. You're not and so so what I'm saying is is that if being overweight and out of breath if that's okay for you You just need to be honest about the exchange. Yeah, and that's the problem in life and in business. That's the issue I don't think it's that we aren't smart. I don't think humans are inherently dumb They're just not willing to make the hard decision to sacrifice things short-term. You got to give up what you want now For what you want later Yeah, you know that my dad actually said something to me. My dad, you know, he wasn't, he's still around. It sounds like he's gone. Right. But he was never the type of dad was like, good job, son. Proud of you. Right. Pat me on the back.

47:41 Like, you know, I graduated high school. What did my dad give me? He just went to my graduation. Right. I didn't get a card. I didn't get anything because that was expected of me. Right. You know, I wanted a pair of shoes. He bought me a lawnmower. Right. He wasn't like, Hey, good job going to start this business. Like he, he was never that way. And to this day, he's not even that way. Right. And I know my dad's proud of me because he tells everybody else, but he never tells me. And I'm, good with that because I think that's what fuels me and motivates me because I'm never content. I never felt like I've made it. Like I'm always searching for that. But one thing my dad told me, and I was 18 years old and my wife is pregnant at the time with our, with our son Hayden. And I just had graduated high school and I honestly had no idea what I was going to do yet.

48:25 But I was never worried or concerned because I've always had the mentality like I'm going to figure it out. Like I've always had that mentality. But one thing he said to me that stuck out to me, like, cause I was 18 years old. He said, Cody, how old are you going to be in 10 years? And I'm like, 28. Where's this going? Right? He's like, all your peers around you that are 18, how old are they going to be in 10 years? You know, 10 years. I said, they're going to be 28 as well. He says, what are you going to do? And I'm like, I don't know, dad, I have no idea, but I'll figure it out. He's like, well, Think about this in 10 years, you're going to be 28. Everyone around you is going to be 28 years old and you're all going to be looking at yourself as a 28 year old person.

49:05 And you're to be dealing with the results of all the years leading up to that. And so for the next 10 years, you could go out and become a doctor. If you want, you become a lawyer, you can deliver pizzas. You can become an athlete, whatever you want to do. You're still going to be in that same spot at 28 years old and all the things leading up to it. For example, if you went to college for eight years to become a doctor, that's going to be gone. Right? If you spent all that time eating junk food, it's all going to be gone. So all of like the dopamine and the serotonin of all the things you did really will not matter. What will matter is where you're at at that point. Yeah. Based upon, but even, even like even the sacrifices.

49:50 It's in the past. Right? So like if you busted your ass for those 10 years, you're still dealing with the results. And so that really stuck out with me. Like it goes back to the slide edge. Like where do you want to be? And you don't need to know how to get there. You can literally make it one decision at a time. Right? Like I want to, I want to lose a hundred pounds. Try this donut. No. Okay. We made that decision. Then move on to the next one. Right. But that's, that's. That's always stuck out to me. I tell my kids that too. You know, and think it works well because like my son's 20 now. He's going to he's going to be 21. Oh, he's he's 20s. He's going be 21 in January. And, um, you know, I tell him the same thing.

50:32 I'm like, he'll want to buy something. Now he's, starting to save a little bit of money. And I'm like, man, how long you been saving money? He's like three months. I would, if you started at 16, all the time was gone. So yeah, you may not have been able to go. play top golf or something. It's been 300 bucks on a Friday night, but like that enjoyment's gone too. Like that's in the past. Now you're going to be with the bank account. Right. And so like, I think that's really hard for people to grasp and think about, but it's, it's, it's, it's the same for everybody. Hey, thanks for tuning in. If you like these types of conversations, be sure to follow the necessary entrepreneur on your favorite platform so you never miss out on future content. When did you start coming into contact with the gurus of self-improvement?

51:17 What's around that time? 18, 19? So that was it. Yeah. I mean, and, and, and it makes sense why they do it because you know, when you join a network marketing company, for one, you can make a ton of money in that, but most people don't make it right. Very, very few. Um, I don't think they're dissed. mean, I actually, think, I think they were more honest than most. It's like, Because that's the only thing I hate about network marketing is when they don't tell you the truth. And I think, I think that's what was different with prepaid legal. Like they would say, you're most people are not going to make any money doing this, but we can tell you how you will make money. people won't. Right. And so, the thing with network marketing is, know, they want you to sell to your friends, your family and make a list.

52:02 Right. All your friends and family are going to tell you, no, that's stupid. That's not going to work. And so you're going to want to Well, how to, how do you keep someone from not quitting? Get their mind right. get them dreaming, get them having that vision. And then for some, they're just always chasing the dream. They're not doing the activity. But first, a very few, which probably are the ones that are successful in it, they actually do the things, right? And so that's when I really started investing in the mindset and the personal development is at 19. And like today, I that's, spend a lot of time investing in still my mindset, personal development. Like I still listen to Jim Rohn regularly, Zig Ziglar, you know. It's the one guy that I wish I would have met just to be around him.

52:45 You know, I had a guy on the podcast that directly trained with him for years back in the, back in the nineties and he, um, back with VHS tape, he would have to record everything he did. He was in Jim Rohn's direct mentoring system and he would have to record himself, send the videos to Jim and Jim Rohn actually watched them and would video and critique and send it back. Yeah, that'd be impr- that'd be- that'd incredible. Wouldn't it have been? Without that, this guy wouldn't be sitting here without getting your mind right. For sure. So the underpinning to everything we talk about, about the hard stuff and the success and raising kids and meeting with big buyers and flashlights and batteries, if you wouldn't have gotten your mind right, you don't make the right decisions.

53:32 No doubt. that it's, not even about making the right decisions because like, what's the right decision, right? Yeah. Getting in the right direction. Right. And so, but again, it goes back to like, what do you want? Right. And so like, if you don't know what you want, how do you know what the right decision is? Right. And so like, that's why I think it goes back to like, like what my dad said, right. With, really thinking about the future. where do you want to be and then making the right decisions based upon that. So I think at the end of the day, like the biggest advice anybody should have is like, figure out what you want. Like you said in the notebook, like what do you want? Well, make a decision that's going to get you closer to there.

54:14 Because you know, in that, it was a script. he would have accepted if she just left and went to the other guy. And then I can move on with my wife and do what I have to do. But that's what we have to do for ourselves because we keep on one foot in and one foot out. That's all you have to do, right? Either go be an employee and I would make an argument, be the best employee because great employees are extremely valuable companies. There's some that work at this place that I get to operate and I'm fortunate enough. But there's a lot who don't and it's just, whether you're an entrepreneur, they need to work on developing their mind as well. for sure. because what they need to listen to is if you want to raise, if you want a promotion, if you want to improve your life and you don't want to go through this pain of entrepreneurship, because it is painful.

54:57 I don't advise everyone to do it. But if you want to be an employee, there's actually a way you can still have everything almost you want. There is. And so many people are just sitting back waiting and performing in an average way. What do you love about employees? Like we won't name any people. We're not trying to have them listen and they're like, he was talking about me. But what do you love? Love about having employees? Just in general like when you really get inspired you're really happy to work with one because just like there's a teacher's pet The reason why they became the teachers pet is because they just did the right shit, right and What makes you really love to be around some of your employees the ones you love to spend time with them? Yeah, so I think like most people that I'm around to be honest I'm not really around people unless I want to be around them anymore, right?

55:42 Because it just takes so much energy. So what makes me want to be around people there's a there's a couple of things obviously like if I enjoyed the time around them, right? But when it comes to employees and it's funny you mentioned this I just had this conversation yesterday because I'm interviewing some new bookkeepers and I said, you know, the first interview was with my COO and he's interviewing them for like skill sets and explaining what we're doing That first thing I said was I'm not really here to interview on your skill sets because you have them Otherwise, we wouldn't be having a second interview. I'm here to learn how your how you tick I want to learn your philosophy, right? I want to learn you know, what gets you motivated and what keeps you going and so I explained to them I said, you know my best employees are ones that take ownership and they're ones that I can give a problem to and They don't they figure it out, right?

56:29 They're resourceful and I said so in my company for anybody that comes here, if they want to work through it from a list, like this is what you do all day, like this is not the job for you. So like my best employees and the ones that are paid the best are the ones that solve the most problems. Right. And so they also give me problems too, right? Because really good employees that they know they're good. Right. And so like, they're not as, as easily to, uh, I guess mold. Yeah, exactly. Right. But don't you. Absolutely. You know, and. You know, actually most of my, most of my best employees are entrepreneurs, right? Like I promote entrepreneurs in my company, right? My, my COO owns a tattoo studio.

57:11 He owns real estate. My VPS sales owns a clothing company. My, my lead media guy has, a media company as well. You know, he works full time for me and I liked that, right? Because, you know, during the day I expect them to give me their time and their dedication, right? And you see it all the time, like the own first one in last one out. It's hard to expect your employees to do that. It's not their baby. But when you help them and what they're doing and their passion, they're gonna give you so much more. And so I think most of my best employees are entrepreneurs as well. They're not all, of course, but most of them are. And I think it goes back to what you asked.

57:52 Why do you enjoy working with these employees? I love seeing the growth. I get like... personal satisfaction and knowing like what we're creating in my business is like feeding their family, right? It's, it's giving them their livelihood and they have that possibility and that ability. And so that's what I like most about working with employees because honestly, at the end of the day, I could make a pretty dang significant amount of money. Just selling flashlights to these big customers, like the Walmarts of the world. I don't need a warehouse. I can ship directly to their facility, right? And I, for sure I can make two or 3 million bucks a year. just selling out of my garage, right? But I don't want to do that.

58:33 It's not fun by yourself, right? I want to see other people grow and, um, you know, better themselves as a result of what we're doing. Yeah, there's something special about you don't need verbal credit from the outside world with them, but to be able to sit back and for you to know if that individual who's busting their ass going all in taking ownership, but if they wouldn't have found this thing, maybe they would have been like Cody and they would have found something, but that's not a guarantee. If they wouldn't have found this thing with a leader like me, trying to push them. Their life wouldn't be that. Yeah. And those can be quiet because nobody wants to give you credit for it. But when you know that, that's impactful. Yeah, it's impactful, but it in the same breath.

59:14 Like, you know, I think that's one of the, one of the very stressful things as an entrepreneur, right? You've got employees, right? And so like my, my buddy Jim, any, he's my, he's my best friend. Um, one of the companies he knows they're, laying off people, right? And he's like, uh, man, that sucks for blah, blah, blah laid off, man. That's, that's, that's a shitty, that's a terrible thing about having a job. Like you never know when you're going to get laid off, right? You just never know. And I said, imagine owning a business because if you, if you get laid off, your entire company is laid off, right? If you, if you quit working, none of your employees have a job. And he's like, I never thought about it that way. And I'm like, you know, as the owner of that company, that's a fact that they're laying them off because they're, forced to, right?

59:59 We don't in business, like that could happen anytime. Like there's so many variables that happen. Like you could be in business today and out of business tomorrow. Right. And so like, You know, it's great to see that, but also it comes with a lot of responsibility. So why do you do it? ah You know, I've asked myself that a lot to be honest when it comes to the the entrepreneurism because I'm always dealing with something there's there's never been I don't think in the past 10 years There's been a time where I wasn't engulfed in something major rather. It's a it's a lawsuit litigation You know compliant whatever it is, right and I and I've come to Not so much recently, but there's a lot of times where I'm like man, maybe I should just be a sales guy I might just be selling flashlights, right?

1:00:46 And so at the end of the day, why do I do it? That's a dang good question sometimes, right? But I think it's because I know, like I said before, if it's to be, it's up to me, right? And I like being in control, which you're never in control as an entrepreneur, but I like being able to control the input. You know what I mean? You don't know what the results are going to be, but I know if I do this, this, and this, there's gonna be results, right? But yeah, I think that's why I do it. I love creating, and to be honest, that's the funnest part, is just trying things, and when they work, it's really fun.

1:01:28 But what about when they don't? You just don't do that again, you know, and in fact more things don't work for me than honestly they do work But I'm willing to try more things Of 100 % very very much just had some guys who are from Mexico. I do construction stuff all the time. And I try to have a great relationship with these guys. So I'm always messing with them. And I'll start to pick up some Spanish. And when I do, sometimes I hold back, and then I'll use it later. And I was saying something. was like, man, you guys got to speed it up, man. But they're really good workers. And I was like, what's your word for speed? I like, rapido. I was like, OK, give me something else, right?

1:02:10 And I said, what's it for a crazy? He's like, loco. I said I want you to be loco rapido. I want you to be crazy fast. Yeah, I think in business, speed's very important, especially when you have a product-based business, right? Speed to market is super important. somebody else is going to fill it if you don't get it? I think the market's always changing for one, right? And then I also think that, you know, we all think we have like the best ideas and they're only ours, but I can tell you there's been so many entrepreneurs that have came to me and they're like, hey, I've got this idea for a product. And it's like, my brain is always thinking of ideas. And a lot of times I'm like, I've thought about that, right? And so if you don't act on it, someone else is going to. Yeah. So tell us about this retail world.

1:02:50 What do you, what in your brain here in 2025, what do you know about retail? So retail, you know, it's obvious it's still a huge, right? Retail sales is way bigger than what online sales are even to this day, but online sales are definitely growing at a rapid pace and retail sales is definitely dwindling, right? And so I think like everything goes through ebbs and flows, right? And so I don't think retail is going away, right? I think the retailers that are doing it well, like Walmart, for example, they're going to continue growing and they're going to get bigger and bigger. I think though, because of the online marketplace, the ones that are, typically get by with not doing things exactly right.

1:03:33 That's not going to happen anymore. us an example of that. You don't have to say a specific company or something. let's let's well, we'll say let's talk about big lots, right? So big lots there. They're on my first customers 1400 stores ah They bought a ton of product off me, right? I'm talking a lot, right? Tens of millions, right? We you know, they bought multiple millions per year and so with big lots You know you you have to you have to have a story right like for example who shops a big lots I have no idea. That's a problem. Because I didn't even know. Here's the thing though, not me. Yeah, I didn't even know who shopped at Big Lots. to Walmart. So it's not that I'm not willing to go somewhere with a wrap of being cheap and all that.

1:04:15 I will take my ass down there. Yeah. So at once upon a time people shopped at big lots because they wanted to find the deals, right? They're called big lots. Well, that's because they would buy closeouts and you would go on a Tuesday and you'd be able to find a deal and then you'd go next Tuesday and be a different deal. Well, then big lots got so big, 1400 stores, they could no longer buy closeouts. So then they started buying off guys like me, right? That had a good price and a good product. And you know, and then they started buying branded products. Well, now that customer that they built their entire store on, right? We're not even priced out. Like now they're not getting that treasure hunt anymore. So they're losing that customer. And so now that's like, that's like their whole image, right?

1:04:58 And so now they're, they're going to a new customer and that worked for a little while, right? But then they lost, like they're, lost like their entire strategy. And so that's what retailers are doing because they want to just chase the next thing. Like, okay, it's working for Macy's. making that up. We're going to try to doing that. Except instead of just staying where you're at and then developing, you know, your story. So it's, it's, it's very important to be able to say who is your customer. Right. And, big glass didn't know that. Do you think it's as simple as this and you can knock it down, but is it this quarterly system of public companies? Is it just being so profit-driven? That's just all that matters? Is that what takes their mind? Is that why they're chasing the new thing?

1:05:39 They see someone doing it and making margin and taking margin. Let's go do that. That's where the money is. Yeah, I think it's almost that shiny object syndrome, right? And so like, yeah, for like, it's like for her big lots, it's like, okay, okay. This close out is 30 cents. Well, I can, I can buy a pretty dang similar light for 50 cents. Like we can get two bucks for that one. Right. And so they're like, oh, we're going to, we're going to chase that short term. But again, it's like, you know, if Mercedes starts saying, Hey, you know what? Hyundai's on a lot of cars. We need to drop our prices. Is it like, I want to Mercedes anymore? Not the old customers. Right? They're not, right? And even the new customer, they're gonna want it at first, but then they're gonna be like, man, it's the same price as this Hyundai.

1:06:21 They lose that appeal. That's what happened to Big Lots. They lost their customer base. uh nobody would say, who shot to Big Lots? No idea. Even myself, if I went to Big Lots, you would never say to yourself, and you would never say to yourself, I'm gonna go check Big Lots out. It was, it was always something like, I'm in the area. I'm going to stop by. need to be known for something, like in the real estate world. So we have a bunch of realtors and stuff. I said, Hey, listen, guys, I'm not trying to make new friends. I'm trying to build impactful relationships. The only thing I need is I need to be so valuable to them. The moment they think anything real estate, they think me. Yeah, the authority.

1:07:01 That's it. Yeah. Yeah. And that's, that's why I only sell flashlights, right? Uh, we didn't get into this, but when I started my company, it was called premier products. Cause I wanted to be a product based company, right? I wanted to sell you if I, and it gave, went back to Dana at come and go, I sold them batteries, developed that relationship. I'm like, I'll sell you flashlights now. And so my first thought process was I'm going to get these accounts and then I'm just going to sell them everything. Right. I'll just keep sourcing and sourcing, but I learned really quickly. People want to be, you know, the Jack of all trades, but they're always the master of none. Right. And if I'm going to be the authority when it comes to flashlights, I can't sell you tools and knives and gloves either.

1:07:42 Isn't that what the customer wants? They want to work with someone who's the expert in that area. Yeah, it's just like if you you need brain surgery, you're not going to see a foot doctor, right? They may be the best foot doctor in the world, but you want it. You wanted to go to the best brain surgeon in the world. And I think that's what's happening in a lot of retailers or they're losing. They're losing their, um, their mission. They're losing what they were going after. And it's maybe it's not a necessity. Like it's not working. So we got to switch things up and change things up. Um, and they're, they're just not, you know, when it comes to the online, I don't think a lot of them take, took it seriously. Right. They're like, Oh, we're going to wait this out. We're going to see how this goes, but you can't do that. like Walmart, the reason why I think Walmart is going to be very successful is because they have the retail stores.

1:08:25 There's 4,000 of them. And now they're building up their online platform very, very rapidly. People want things instantly. Right. So now imagine like Amazon, you can get it the next day. Some of the big cities you can get the same day, but there's a Walmart in every corner. Right. So now imagine when Walmart. you can buy something online, they're gonna deliver that same day, like Uber delivers your food. Yeah, so I'm saying is that they can just pick it right off the shelf, right? And so I think companies like Walmart are gonna do very well. And so the goal is just to partner with or work with companies that are forward thinking. But for sure, retail is not dead. And uh even if it was, it'll come back.

1:09:05 Everything comes full circle. yeah, for sure. Yeah, mean, even today like, Like we think about nostalgic products, like everything fizzles away. And then next thing you know, comes back. about stuff for sure. Yeah, like the, uh, what are they, the little bit, what do they call them? The Beanie Babies? Oh yeah. Remember like they used to give those away at McDonald's Happy Meals. Now, right now they got the something. They got some other Dowel out of China. had Care Bears or something, man? Yeah. I had trolls man. I had trolls. you? Yeah, maybe maybe What else is on your mind here?

1:09:48 We're gonna get you out of here to offspring here soon, man. You're gonna party in Cincinnati. We're gonna try it, hopefully I remember all the words, you know? No, probably not. I got a good memory, but it's No, but I did just buy a harmonica. I wanna start playing the harmonica. There's some Bruce Springsteen has a harmonica. Bob Dylan played a harmonica, I think. I think you're in pretty good crowd. Well, growing up, like I always wanted to be the guy that went to the parties with the guitar, right? Just sing, just have a guitar out serenade, but that I never had, that never happened to me. So now I'm like, I think I can figure out how to the harmonica, right? It's just like 10 keys. You blow on it a little bit. So I think she'll, I think she's going to be pretty impressed, you know, that'll probably impress her more than anything else.

1:10:32 um So, you invoke the sons, but you guys have together for a long time, you and the wife. um I'm assuming she's a positive influence on your life. For sure she is. know, I, you know, she was my first why, right? Like I want to, I want to give her what everything she wants. Right. And she has very high standards. Right. And she didn't always have high standards when it comes to like having like the finer things and things like that. but you know, she, she wants things just as much as I want things. Right. And I want to give them to her just as much as I want them. Right. And so like, I think that's, that's incredibly important to have someone, Some people will look at it as like, not great, right?

1:11:13 Like, for example, like if I want to travel, my wife's like, no, we're not staying in that hotel. Like I can't tell you how many times we've traveled somewhere and like checked out and had to get another hotel. And in the moment of things, I'm thinking to myself, what I'm taking you to Disney world. Come on, let's just stay here. Right. But now looking back, that was really good because she had a higher standard for me. And you know, Brad, my buddy, Bradley always says like, You know, if your wife is spending too much of your money, that's your problem. You need to earn more money. Right. And, um, a lot of people don't agree with that, but like, know, you know, you're, when Brad said next to you, that's right. Right.

1:11:54 And that, and Brad said something else that I think it was Brad that said this, not Brad. It was at my buddy, John. He said, you know, every woman, every relationship is in it for something. Right. Like you'll, you'll see the pretty girls dating the older guys maybe. Right. And people will say, she's a gold digger. Well, what's that older man dating the younger girl for? Right. That every relationship you're there for something. Right. And so my buddy, John says that, you know, every woman is a gold digger. You just have to find one in your budget. Right. Now people might not like that sentiment, but at the end of the day, like people want nice things. Right. And now that doesn't mean that they were with you just because you have the nice things, but like it's natural to want more.

1:12:36 Right. And so. I love the fact that my wife holds that standard, right? Even though at the time I'm like, just be happy with what you got sometime. You know what I mean? But she always, she's pushing me, right? And that, but at the same breath, she's accepting of things when they don't go the way that they should. Right? So like, like, you know, we've been together and my wife, you know, she's beautiful, right? Um, but she is. Um, but as she, you know, if she wasn't, I probably would still say that, but But she is. Very, very beautiful. know, incredibly intelligent. She's a nurse. She's got three degrees. Yeah, exactly.

1:13:16 Right. Because she got with him when I was 18. Right. When I was a class clown, I was the funny guy. And she thought that was. Yeah. And by the time she did it, I was like, well, you're pregnant. know, so. Tricked ya. Yeah. Too late. You know. Keep going you said she's you know she's beautiful Yeah, so anyways, she's all of those things and so if someone sees me today with my wife You know and and I'm not she's out of my league to be honest, right? Like she is but she was with me when we had absolutely nothing, right? I'm telling you like when we were you know 1920 which I don't think anybody has much at 19 or 20 but like we weren't We weren't going out to dinners, right? If we were it was a Chinese buffet where the kids ate for free, right? $20 bill We were overdraft in our checking Right.

1:14:00 And so like, that time she wasn't like, we need to stay in a better hotel. We need to buy a nicer car. So she knows like what I'm capable of. Right. So she's not saying, you know, when we fly to, to Mexico first class, she's not saying, why don't we take the jet? Right. Because we, I don't, I'm not capable of having that big 30, $40 million jet yet. Right. Yeah. Right. Um, but if I, if she knew I was, and I wasn't doing the things she would, that's how she would be. Like she knows like we can stay at any hotel we want. Like why are we staying at this one? Right? And so at the end of the day, it just holds me to a level of accountability. What people are talking about, what people try say is, you should use your money for experiences, right, this whole thing.

1:14:42 And it's like, okay, let's go there. Spend $1,800 to stay in a hotel one night, and tell me you don't talk about that for a decade. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I love experiences and that's something she's taught me too. Like I was never into like, honestly, the traveling, just, we just really started traveling. You were a worker. I'm working in, it's back to productivity. I want to be productive. Now I can travel and I have people working at the office. Right. Um, but you know, um, train of thought again. So yeah, so experiences, right now I'm realizing like that's the stuff we talk about. where's your favorite place you've traveled? Right now, in the past year or two, what's on your mind? You know, I like, I like, I like going to China, right?

1:15:26 We do a lot of business in China and, uh, you know, when I go to China, I'm only a flashlight company, right? And so we're only buying flashlights. So these, to these Chinese vendors and factories were a really big deal for them. Right. And what's really cool is, and I talk about this a lot because some people frown on me buying from China, right? They're like, you buy from China? I'm like, well, if I didn't, you wouldn't buy my flashlights because they'd be three or 400 bucks. But at end of the day. So I have my company, my flashlight company. I've got about 15 employees in Peru. And not only that though, because of the battery, the flashlight company, now I own the building that I'm in that's got 30 or 40 employees. And then I have a, just, you know, the restaurant, all these other things that have stemmed off because of the flashlight company.

1:16:09 So all in all, there's probably two or 300 people in my area that are working because of the flashlight company. But then I go to China, right? And there's two or 300 people at one factory. Right. And you know, there there's like a whole ecosystem that was created because of this guy from a little town of 10,000 people decided he's going to sell a flashlight. And so like, love going to China just to see that, right. To see what's going on and, and, and, and all of the, um, all of the results of just that one little idea. How's it feel? when they put you up on a pedestal and you're the man. Be honest. You know, to be honest, not many people put me on a pedestal.

1:16:50 Not really. Right. Um, actually, actually in China a little bit for sure. Right. Um, actually I'm lying a lot of bit, right. And China, and that's because, like I said, they're making like, we're literally the reason why they have all these employees, right. That they have all this infrastructure. So over there, um, they definitely do that. Like if I'm going to a trade show. If you sell flashlights, you know who, they call me the flashlight guy, right? But in my area, like no one does that. Like, cause just because like, I'm just a, I'm just a regular guy. trying or not. So I'm just asking how does that feel? We're talking about success. It feels incredible right and it feels incredible because It wasn't always that way right and so it's like You look back and you say to yourself and actually I've never ever said I've made it Never right even to this day like I haven't made it yet, but when you're there you say to yourself Not quite like I've made it but like you know where you came from and you're like, I'm doing this Yeah, right once you're Yeah.

1:17:58 And so it's not even, it's not even a thing of like poppice or like, Oh, look at me on this pedestal. But it's like all of the work. Cause I know what it was like the first time I went to China. Right. Um, but you. That's it. You can connect all the bad times and all the failure and all the pain and where you come from and then you're sitting here in China selling these millions and millions of units and these people are looking at you like this guy's done it. That's real. Yeah. Yeah. That's real. You know, it's a no, no, no. And that's cool. I never thought about that way. Right. Those are things that you can't lose. Right. That, that experience. Right. And so now, like I said, my wife is all about experiences.

1:18:39 Right. And I think she used to tell, I thought she used to say it like, cause she just wanted to travel more. Right. But like now looking back, like those are the things to remember. Like my, my sons remember their favorite vacations when I took them to China. And this was like 10 years ago. Right. And we didn't even do anything. but just being around the people I work with, going to the factories, that's the vacation they always talk about. Next time you go to China for business, I want to go. I want to go. I want to go to China. And even if I want to go to China in October, he's not going to say yes, but I'm serious. Okay. My mind's intrigued. It's like seven days, eight days. What is it? So usually I'll go for like probably two weeks, right? So we'll usually go to like some trade shows for a little bit and we'll do factory tours.

1:19:22 And then what I do is I actually set up like little mini trade shows in our hotel. And so I'll invite like 15 to 20 suppliers. They'll come in, do like a 20 minute presentation. It'd be fun. We'll have a good time. Yeah, I'm off. the battery guy for Cody was. You weren't making shit, you built the thing for the gobbits and you learned something. I've always been fascinated about the importing business and about this manufacturing. It doesn't line up with what I'm doing at all, but I need to feed my brain about it to really understand this process. You know, the cool thing, and that's, that's why I started my other company recently concept to consumer because honestly, a lot of people are like that, like they're, they're fascinated with developing a product.

1:20:03 And if I was to ask a hundred people, you ever thought about a product you want to invent? And I bet you 70 to 80 % of them would say, I've got one right now on my phone. I don't want to invent it. I've been on Alibaba and all these places. I want to buy the thing. I want to go buy hundreds of thousands of them, be the distributor, run the thing and do it. And then tweak it and make it better. easy. When it comes to flashlights, that's how we started. I literally found my supplier on Alibaba.com. It was on Christmas Eve. I don't know why I was on Alibaba, but the guy was on Alibaba. We happened to be the same age, and he answered my request, and I started buying flashlights off him. And now that person is now the general manager of my entire company in China.

1:20:50 China's fun. I didn't think it was going to be China, I've learned something else and I'm trying to invite myself in October. I'm. Okay, here we go. No problem. All right. I got a budget of like, you're going to fly. You're going to spend 10,000 a ticket for first class. I'll ride coach. All right. All right. All right, Yeah, maybe on the way there then you'll figure it out on the way back that's not happening because usually what I do is I I usually always book like a premium premium economy seat, right? Yeah, kind of right you're not laying down though. Yeah, and so then when you get to the airport you upgrade and it's like 1500 bucks to upgrade But I'm telling you there's been two occasions where there wasn't an upgrade and I'm telling you that is rough 12-hour flight and a regular seat especially when I was 350 pounds Yeah, that was rough.

1:21:40 ah of the Mediterranean to the life flats a couple years ago didn't even feel like it didn't feel like I was flying flat. was incredible. I fly first class everywhere now, but But my brain still that poor mark something happens to me when I look at that. I'm like fourteen thousand dollars for that first class It hurts me man That's why it's like, I'll just book the regular one and then I'll get to the airport. And sometimes it's even cheap. Yeah, and sometimes you pay like three or four grand of upgrade, but then you're there and you have to do it. Yeah. Okay. Gives you the prediction on when you should buy and when it's going go down.

1:22:22 Yeah, I use just Google flights. That's it. know, can just put, and then it'll show you a whole map, and you can just find out when the cheapest days are throughout the whole year. This is going be an education. I have to have a budget for the education and just go and just do it. Yeah, ten grand. That's all you need man. That's all I need. Everything else will be covered. Okay. You'll be eating like a king as long as you like seafood. Yeah, do you like seafood? Listen, I'm not going to put it in front of me if that's what the experience is. doing what we're doing. Cause in China when we go out to eat it, don't. No, if you don't want to, but in China, like everything's a buffet, but it's not like our buffets. It's everything's in live fish tanks. Right? So if you're eating crab, it's like. from Red Lobster when I grew up poor. like I want that one. Yeah, but I mean like just feet and feet of aquariums, you know.

1:23:07 No, it's cooked. They cook it. Yeah, they cook it. I'm telling you that the food is good. It's top-notch. If we don't, we're going to put a lot of money and we're going to run ads against this moment. And I'll be like, this guy is not who he says he is. you know what? That's PR though, right? Yeah, it is. There's not bad PR. No, come on. if somebody was on the upstream files, maybe. Maybe, but you'll never know. What Epstein files? Yeah, none. Do they have files? I thought there wasn't any. think it's all made up. Is he even a guy? You gotta get out of here, man. It's awesome. I love being around people like you. There's a lot to learn and this experience in life.

1:23:49 We can all learn from it. I hope people do today. And it's just about getting started. And you'll find an opportunity in the moments when you didn't know there was an opportunity there. And just make a decision. Put yourself around somebody that maybe gives you this advice to, you know where to buy them, you know who to sell them to. Hey, that's 50 % of Yeah, and then if you don't know all those things The the biggest struggle was with me I didn't know anybody that ever sold in a retail or even bought from China, right? But now like there's so many people that I've done it like for example if someone wants to buy from China Get a hold of me, If you want to develop a product based company get a hold of me And if not me, there's there's tons of other people I've done it already is I'm the one that they know right? And so that's that's why you see me so much an Instagram anymore Like you said the evolution of my Instagram It's really evolved in the last really 60 to 90 days.

1:24:36 I saw it. Right. And then that's intentional because I want people to get to know me. Right. And then for twofold one, that's my, that's my business. Right. But secondly, like the more people that know me is the more people that I can help. Right. And so at the end of the day, um, you know, that's, that's what I get enjoyment out of seeing people's growth, creativity, and then obviously there's gotta be a little monetary value to it too. Right. You can't, you can't do it for free. He needs some equity, That doesn't mean I'm charging to take you to China though, okay? That's- that's- you just gotta pay for your- airfare. Good. I pay for my airfare because they're paying for all the food and stuff. Those folks are paying for all this. I want to experience this. All right. I'm there. I just got to be back for Houston November 13th.

1:25:17 He'll be back. It'll be, it'll be in October. Is this gonna be, I'm not gonna get lost am I? Okay this isn't like Bangkok and all that. I got the passport let's go man. you'll need a visa though. Um, what do need to do for that? I've got all the stuff, man. My real ID and my TSA doesn't do it. I'd need the international. Visa travel business visa. Okay, 10 year visa. give you okay you go for 10 years Yep. Yeah, you'll have him plenty of time. It takes like four weeks Okay, I'm going to China guys. Hey, we're going to do some content, we're going to do some stuff. You're going have to teach me all the content things you know, Jack.

1:25:59 And let's go. Is anybody else going? Yeah, I always bring a buddy with me or somebody. My brother goes a lot of times. He works in the company, the flashlight company. So what if like midway through you're like, don't like this fucking guy. Like can we maybe you send me back? No, we got people to take care of that. You know, I'm going to be honest, I'm not really around anybody I don't really like. So right now, right now I qualify in the moment. Okay, We'll find out by the end of Sure, for sure. But like, you know, I was thinking about on the way here, I know we're trying to wrap this up, but I was talking about like, you know, for me, like, I really only hang out with people I enjoy anymore.

1:26:41 Right. And there's people I enjoy that I don't even hang out with because I'm also like thinking about like productivity as well. And so it just depends on the circumstance. But I was thinking like, how is it that I get like in so many different circles? Right. And so like, like I hang out with some pretty cool people that are way cooler than me. Like, how did I get in their circle? And when it comes down to it, like every time that I get around somebody, I'm always trying to figure out like, how can I help them? What value can I give them? And so I was thinking about it today. Like it's, it's kind of like the dam, the whale, right? That has those little sucker fish on their back. Like they're annoying, they're pesky. Right. And it comes to a certain point where it latches on. But then eventually that whale figures out like this thing's eating parasites and doing lots of other stuff.

1:27:24 So he lets them free load if you would. Right. And so I kind of feel like that's, that's how we all are in a certain aspect. You're not free loading by the way, but this is getting to something. Right. And so whenever I'm trying to develop a relationship or a friendship, like that's really that hard, like how can I help them out or what can I do to improve them? And it's not always monetarial either. Is that the word? Monotary. Monotary, right? I like you meant new word. Monotary, monotary. ah But at the end of the day, I think that you don't always have to be around people that like you necessarily like love or like, right? Like you can learn a lot from everybody, right?

1:28:07 Yeah, a lot more, right? And so at the end of the day, like ah there's not really a lot of people that I can say I don't like. Yeah. Right. I might not hang out with them or want to be best friends with them, but like I get along with everybody, you know. That's an evolution of that statement you just made though too. Like you might always felt like that, but for you to articulate it, you haven't always articulated it. You might've thought it, but to say it. Sure. Right? Out loud. Yeah, yeah, like that you're at a different place like when you start doing that I'm not saying you're a Buddhist and stuff yet, right? But yeah, one of the other guys you could have listened to back in days not listening more but Wayne Dyer man, I used to watch him when I was when I didn't have any money um Well, the 2008 housing crisis was difficult.

1:28:50 That was 18 months after I started this company. it was not fun um but you fight and you find a way through and I turned off my cable Just those places in life. You have any money. But you still had PBS. And I'd work these long crazy hours and I'd get home at 11 or 12 o'clock and Charlie Rose was on. And that's the best engaging interview I've ever seen. Like him and Larry King, but Charlie Rose, he would just pull the brilliance out of everyone. And then right after it, Wayne Dyer would consistently be on. And he was a thought guy. And he would talk about your Dharma and talking about all this stuff. And that's when my evolution started. Yeah. started listening like there's a different way to think. You listen to a Charlie Rose interviewing people and you get the best out of all of them and then right after it.

1:29:34 um it's a little bit different experience than network marketing, but it's a similar thing. You know, it wasn't necessarily the network marketing that created the growth, right? It was what they were instilling in me to do. And then I went and got it from elsewhere, like from Jim Rohn's, Xiglar, all those things. yeah. I was in the rotary club too. So he said that he did not have social skills, which you can even see it this day. He said he had to go there to learn how to talk with people. And he said without that, he wouldn't have been able to achieve what he has. Yeah, that's why I think it's, it's, it's very valuable to be an employee. Right. You, learn a lot, right. And, not only that, but you've learned against perspective, right? It's like, you know, if your wife's having a baby and she's screaming in labor and you're like, I know how you feel, you're going to get smacked.

1:30:18 There's no way you can know how you feel. Cause that you've never been in that position. And so as an employer, if you were never an employee, it's going to be really hard to have that same perspective, right? You won't be able to. Right. And so, I think that's, that's why. I think that's why I work pretty good with the people around me because I was an employee for a long time and not a long time actually. I started my business at 24 years old but I have that perspective. I can speak to certain ways and understand how someone feels. I think that's super important. because you know when as an employee they made you feel not good about yourself. And then when they did, we all had bad managers and good managers.

1:31:00 I learned the most from my bad managers. I think actually it's like business. You learn from your failures and your mistakes. Those are the catalysts. moment pissed me off. I hated it. It felt disrespectful. But then later in life, I was like, man, how beneficial is that to know not to do that shit? I'll close this with a really funny quick story because this is good. And so I remember I told you I was 24 years old. I left that company and it wasn't like something I was planning on doing. I just got in a tizzy with somebody. I got into a little bit of an argument and I basically called my boss and I said, hey, I'm not working for you anymore, but I'm not quitting because I need unemployment. Right. And he said, I can't fire you. You're too valuable.

1:31:41 And I said, I'm not coming back to work tomorrow. but I'm not quitting just letting you know. He's like, and he said, I can't fire you yet. You're too valuable. And I said, all right, well, I'm out the door. So I left. But the reason why all that happened was there was an employee there that was running the company. He was the president of the company that we just did not see eye to eye. We butted heads. And I think it was a matter. There was two things. One was my authority problem. He was my boss and we're about the same age. Two, I think he was a little bit jealous of my position in the company and the sales and the purchasing. And so we both had our faults, but long story short, that gentleman is now the CEO of my company. Right. He's been there for 12 years, I think.

1:32:21 Right. So, um, you know, it's just funny how that happened, right? That the moral of the story is you got to your pride. Sometimes you got to, you got to really look back and, uh, look at the situation from a perspective situation. Right. Again, like I said, I can say now that. It was a problem with authority. I didn't want to be told what to do. And I felt like I'm the head guy, I'm the top sales guy, right? So now I can look at my salespeople and think like that's what they're thinking too. The top. Right? And so I can, I can talk to them a certain way. instead of losing them, let me make sure I can work with them. them back down, right?

1:33:02 But the moral of the story is, ah what the hell was the moral of the basically uh... piss people off quit when you are amazing learning, Yeah, learning, right? And so, um, at the end of the day, you know, that was, that was a difficult thing for me to do to call that call the guy that literally was a reason why I left the company and like, Hey, you know what I realized? You know, you weren't, you weren't an a-hole. It was my fault. Right. So all my pride now, like I said, he's a CEO of my company and he's one of the guys that is an entrepreneur doing big things and, uh, he's, he's, he's running the business. or parts of did it take for you to get there?

1:33:42 And we gotta get how long did it take for when you quit but you didn't quit from when you called him? uh... year-and-a-half maybe those two years yet right two years kudos and That's one of your defining moments. We learned from the tough time.

1:34:24 It's awesome, man. I'm glad I brought you this. So if offspring ends up being like it takes you back to the moment when you first started listening to them and had a CD and you're like, man, this is awesome. I get credit for that shit. This is the stuff we're talking about though. Just go all in and say yeah. It's harder to say yes now because we're so busy, but if you're strategic about it and try to combine it with an experience and meet new people, because there's always something intriguing. It's like, I what this is going to be. You've been on podcast, he had a title, he's had some, I wonder what this is. And we always think the same thing with a guest. I'm like, I how this conversation is going to be. Are they going be an awesome human? Are they going to piss me off? Am I going to have to keep my shit together and act like I like them? Even though I think we're vastly different.

1:35:06 uh It's such a connection on the thing that you're working on achieving and you're eight years younger than me. And so I'm kind of pissed at myself and I'm like, the fuck is wrong with you, man? This guy is where it feels like mentally and emotionally we're the same place and you got there eight years sooner. Vegas.

1:35:58 the simulation. Here we go. We'll stay away from you. We got to get you out here. That's the next conversation, the simulation, if it is one. um Thanks for coming in, And we roped him in. Asia, I gotta go get my visa. So I get my visa, we'll reach out and say, I'm going. All right, man, I'm there. Thank you. Have a great time tonight. And then what's the place? Like what's the website, the social media, the place? Yeah, yeah, it's like WTF on that last name. That's the next conversation. Okay, man. Thank you.