I'm going to say some stuff that's going

to bother some people people who are

listening to this and are not making as

much money as they want they have to Mr

Alex Heros the100 Million Man ult

preneur investor and philanthropist

taking the Internet by storm this guy

really really does understand how to

build a business I was 22 I had done

everything that my dad had wanted me to

do and I was looking out from the condo

that I had been able to buy with this

job that I had and um I always hoped I

wouldn't wake up the next day I cherish

the fact that it was so miserable that

it got me to change pain motivates sign

iFly faster and stronger than pleasure

does if you are angry use it if you are

sad use it or it uses you I didn't know

whether I would succeed but I did know I

wasn't going to stop right around that

point is when I met my wife and then she

just changed my life how did she change

you

like didn't think we were going to go

here

um she just she believed in

me she stood tall when everything in my

life was crumbling around me I was like

dead broke in her parents house and I

was like I I think you should leave

me she pulled my chin towards her and

she was like I would sleep with you

under a bridge if it came to

that 6 months later I have $3 million in

the bank account all of that was the

first N9 months of our relationship for

have that kind of belief was was

very it was deep for

me and I think that's what most guys

want truly

what makes a really good entrepreneur

leer I'll answerer this differently than

I have in the past and I'm going to tell

a story that hopefully people don't take

the wrong way but I had a

cat before this episode starts I have a

small favor to ask from you two months

ago 74% of people that watched this

channel didn't subscribe we're now down

to

69% my goal is 50% so if you've ever

liked any of the videos we've posted if

you like this channel can you do me a

quick favor hit the Subscribe button it

helps this channnel more than you know

and the bigger the channel gets as

you've seen the bigger the guests get

thank you and enjoy this

[Music]

episode

Alex I spend several hours consuming all

of your content across multiple channels

what is the aim what is the mission what

is the the intent

if you were to try and summarize the

content you're producing and the value

you're trying to add and to who are you

trying to add it

to to make business accessible for

everyone that was the mission of the

company and so our whole idea

was we'll put everything out there uh

for free so no pay walls so there's like

we have courses on the site the books I

have for 99 cents um so that anyone can

get them and you know we'll continue to

produce as much as we can

and we share the learnings that we have

from our portfolio companies in order to

keep the stuff that we are putting out

there relevant new fresh Cutting Edge

because this is what's working today and

by doing that it also brings other

companies to us because they get value

from the stuff and our goal is always to

hopefully provide more value to a

company before they've ever spoken to us

um like kind of pay for ourselves as in

advance is kind of like the thought

process even though we're buying in um

and that's that was kind of the thesis

when we started it I didn't know if it

was going to work uh but it seems to

have gone pretty well uh and it was just

kind of just like if we just give and

keep giving and keep giving we just

focus on the value and delivering to the

audience um it'll come back eventually

what are you giving them and who are you

giving it

to entrepreneurs at all stages um we've

surveyed the audience 25% of the

audience uh has a business 75% does not

have a business but wants to start a

business and so that's just kind of

overall um and then within that 25% then

it just kind of categories all the way

up to you know business is doing 100

million plus a year and so it's everyone

and so we try and our one of the things

that we talk about is like going wide

and deep it's like how can we figure

something that is relevant to somebody

who's you know launching their first

product and also make it accessible or

interesting to somebody who's launching

a new product line within a division of

their conglomerate right I'm just trying

to think about both people at the same

time which becomes more challenging but

it's also kind of fun it's kind of like

a funnel isn't it in some respects um

that's EX exctly what I saw from your

content you're you're making great

content that's helping people that are

at the start of their Journey or you

know 100 employees deep into their

Journey trying to figure out how to

scale you're making content that's

bringing down some of the barriers

whether psychological or practical to

enable them to reach whatever dream they

have let's go way Upstream

then what do I need to know about you to

understand the life you've LED take me

way back to your childhood in the early

context both parents are IM immigrants

to the US uh mother was born in France

came here father was born in Iran um

they met in medical school in Europe uh

and then my mother brought him back with

her to the US and then uh they had me

and uh they split my mom had a lot of

demons she had a lot of things she

struggled with when I was coming up so I

pretty much was raised by my dad uh had

no siblings it was just me and my dad

for until I was about 15 um he got

remarried it was a short s in terms of

uh how long I was like kind of in the

house you know like right at that stage

just when you can drive and I was kind

of on my own almost at that point um as

soon as I could work and drive I was

kind of out of the house um and then

from

there did the thing that most people try

and do which is uh I I I worked hard at

school mostly because I just didn't want

my dad to be upset with me which was uh

the main driver for most of my

achievement in my career for the first

half um was all just trying to gain his

approval um did all the things that I

thought he would want me to uh got a job

at a Government Contracting uh

consulting firm a defense Contracting it

was space cyber and ISR uh so it's

intelligence surveillance and

reconnaissance uh for the military

sounded really cool was less cool when

you were in it um and I was very very

sad um at that point in my life and so

it was very much like I didn't I always

hoped I wouldn't wake up the next day um

and it truly you really mean that

100% 100% because I remember when I was

looking at um a lot of people have like

rock top moments sorry Rock Bottom

moments I think I had more of a rock top

moment which was um I was

22 I had done everything that my dad had

wanted me to do at this point I was

looking out from the condo that i' had

been able to buy with this job that I

had and um I was like is this it in the

whole time I just really didn't enjoy my

life um and it was just you know not

wanting to wake up and it

was the the decision

to leave Baltimore which is where I was

from to quit that path to decide to

start a business of my own was still to

this day the hardest thing I've ever

done by far all the things we've been

through to to build what we have the

hardest decision was taking the leap for

me uh and it was because like I knew

that my dad

so much wanted me to do what I was doing

because he was so happy that I was doing

everything he wanted me to do at that

point and I had told him over and over

again that I wanted to do this other

stuff and he's like yeah like later you

know later um and so I knew that it

would probably put a big dent in our

relationship um if I left but for me it

was actually confronting the fact that I

didn't want to be alive anymore which

was the thing that gave me enough

courage or whatever you want to call it

to actually make the decision to leave

home and so I started driving across the

country I mean it took me six months to

do this like when I between when I

decided I really wanted to do this and

when I actually did it took me six

months and I called him when I was like

halfway across the United States and I

was like I'm going to California I'm

gonna open a gym I'm going to get into

fitness and he was like why are you so

extreme and he like lost it and then we

didn't really talk much for a long time

when you

started realizing that your life

um was one where you didn't want to wake

up in the morning when you had that job

in management consultancy MH did you

experience suicidal ideation is that

what you're saying when you say I don't

want I didn't want to wake up into my

life every day it was never like I've

never had a like this is how I would

kill myself nope never had that I just

always like the idea that I could not

wake up the next day sounded

good when you look back in hindsight

from that moment backwards what are the

series of decisions or the the the

things that led you to find yourself in

the position and I asked that because

there's a lot of people that can

probably

relate and and there's probably quite a

consistent set of frog pads or stones

that one has Walken down for whatever

reason that leads you to a position

where you go what the [ __ ] whose life is

this I think the like the on line

summary for me was that like I felt like

I had to let my dad's dream die for mine

to live and I felt like my entire life

it had always up to that point had been

like go to the school do these studies

you I mean it's it's a common thing like

it's not like I had something that a lot

of people don't have many people and to

be fair I'm very grateful for the skills

discipline Etc that that instilled in me

um because I think you you you have the

the hard hand of an authoritarian um

parent when you're growing up and it

teaches you a lot of skills and then you

know the flip side is if you have a very

less aair parent like you never learn

those skills which then benefit you

later so you know who knows um but for

for me

um I knew that he just wanted me to be a

doctor that's what he was that would

have been his dream I went to school as

Premed um and then I I was like even

changing my degree from Premed to just a

business degree was like a huge deal um

but he was okay with that as long as I

followed like the business path and so

when I did my two years of consulting

which is kind of the typical like two to

four years you do Consulting and then

you apply to go to business school

um when I was going through that process

I was answering the question for like

the Harvard NBA and he was like how will

Harvard NBA help you shorten long-term

goals and I sat there for like two days

trying to answer the question and I was

like it just isn't I want to start a

business and so that was when I kept

trying to you know start that

conversation with my dad and it just

wasn't really happening um and so that's

what that was kind of the breaking point

for me was like I just felt terrible

about my life and I didn't didn't like

the way it was going

and I for me it was such a key point

because the biggest line of reasoning I

had for myself in order to convince

myself to in front my father or at least

disappoint my father or the version of

myself that he wanted me to be was to

say that like I have to be comfortable

dying in his

eyes and a lot of people

like and many people might think that is

hyperbole but for me it was very true

like I I knew that I would die in his

eyes and I

did um to give you

context so I had the gyms and I opened

up multiple after that got to about six

locations sold those started a gym

turnaround business did that for 2 years

um

all the while we weren't really in you

know we were like okay in touch um and

then we started the licensing business

which is gym launch and that's the one

that like really took off and we hadn't

been super in touch and I get a call out

of the blue and he wasn't like a cold

call you know what I mean I was like

this is weird so I pick up the phone and

he's like you're going to want to sit

down for this and I was

like okay uh what's up I was thinking

like cancer you know I mean I'm just

like what what is it going to be he was

like like I'm sorry and I was like for

what he was like you know everything I

was like

okay and I was very angry still because

and this is what I told him so I was

like like you know that point when

people like get on stage and they accept

the awards and mind you at this point I

think we're do we're probably taking

home one and a half million a month you

know what I mean and take home like

personal income from the license it was

it was a decent like a I'm not you know

conglomerate like probably but it was

decent sized

business and I was like you know when

people get on stage and they accept

awards for things I was like the first

thing they always say is like hey I just

want to thank my mom and dad for always

believing in me and I was like I'm not

going to say that I was like because you

didn't I was like you're only saying

this now once everyone believed because

it's not belief anymore it's fact it's

evidence I was like so you're I was like

this apology means nothing to me

and besides that I stopped caring what

you thought 6 years ago which is why I

left and so I had like that's like I I

could have just accepted it and I and I

I didn't do that um how' you feel about

that I probably like today I probably

would have just said thanks I appreciate

it I know where he was trying I he was

trying to extend an olive branch um and

I just wasn't there I was still seething

I was still very angry that I had not

gotten any support during that process

and maybe that was very woe as me um but

I was still very very angry at that

point and you know to give also a little

bit of context you know his response to

that was like well we'll see how long it

lasts you're joking no so like my father

and I like he is a very strong

personality and so do I and we both

think we're right are you angry about it

now honestly no I mean like I think I

can still feel the emotions but I feel

like I've you know thought about it

enough to say that I can logically say I

think he absolutely did the best he

could what he had he's a single dad

another country raising a kid trying to

get that kid to fit in and do the things

that like one of the things that I think

my dad always wanted me to be able to do

is like because he's darker skinned than

I am he's Middle Eastern um he always

wanted me to like have access to like

the back rooms where like deals were

made that he felt like he wasn't a part

of and

so he just wanted me to have that and so

I think he just drove me as much as he

could to to get that it's just like when

you're on the other side of it like all

you feel is never

succeeding but I can appreciate it now

in retrospect um but it definitely was

still it hardened me a

lot but that hardness I think has has

benefit me a lot in business I had

someone on the podcast say a quote which

I've never managed to forget they said

you've got to realize that everybody you

encounter everybody that does you wrong

if you were them and you had been

through what they've been through and

you had their brain you'd be doing the

exact same thing yeah and it sound it's

obvious on one hand but it's also very

kind of Illuminating that think about

the person that's wrong you the most if

you've been through their shoes and you

had their genetics you'd be doing the

exact same thing doesn't mean you have

to let them off but at least evoke some

empathy if you heard um you cannot both

hate and understand someone at the same

time

true like if you truly understand

someone then you can't hate them because

you understand why like a lot of times

the hate is from the unknown and not

like because you hate because I mean you

almost say you're like how could like

it's it's literally a statement of not

understanding like how could you if you

understood then you would know how and

that resentment is a byproduct of just

not understanding as well I was just

thinking about resentment that I've had

in my life when I think someone's wrong

me that sense of Injustice you're right

how could yeah how dare you did you ever

manage to get your fuel to burn less

dirty are you burning less dirty now

yeah I think so you think so yeah I

think so I my my team tells me um that

that's true and if you look at like

because I do have some older videos that

I made from like you know years ago um

and there's definitely a different

vibe I'm I'm significantly friendlier

now than I was then um I me even the way

I interacted with customers and you know

the team was like purely fear driven

like I was absolutely because I didn't

understand influence as well yet um so

only only the stick I had was like if I

if people are afraid of me then they

will immediately comply

and it's effective for short durations

but not for long durations um and but I

didn't know any better at the time and

then I slow that's when I you know right

around that point is when I met my wife

and then she just you know changed my

life um and she started running all the

businesses and I'd see her and everyone

loved her and I was like man should do

more more of that stuff and less of my

stuff um she changed your life oh yeah

for sure far not I mean she's

like the best

how did she change you she has brought

out the absolute best in

me like in in just about every way

like didn't think we were going to go

here

um she just she believed in me

and I think that's what most guys want

truly at least for me that's what I

want or

needed I'll tell you a story to

illustrate it

so we

met talk for four hours on the first

date only about

business because that's all I wanted to

talk about and I pitched her on working

for me I was like quit your job work for

me and she was like I just met you

logically makes sense she was a a

personal trainer I had a bunch of gyms

and I was like if you're this good you

should totally work for me she was like

well let's you know let's see how this

goes um and so I had this idea for the

turnaround business and it was right as

I had five five locations at that point

and I wanted to try this thing out so I

flew out did three turnarounds flew back

and they started working and then um I

sold all my gyms because it was like

okay this this makes even more money I

took all the money and put it into uh

this gym that one of the guys I was

doing a turnaround with was like dude

you just crushed this like I'm a really

good operator instead of turning these

gyms around and walking away with just

the money he's like you should just keep

owning them and I'll just fill up fill

them up behind you so I could I could

launch one two three gyms a month and

then own them all he's like you're

leaving so much money on the table I

like okay so we did this first launch I

put all the money in he was like of

course he had financial difficulties and

I had to personally gu you know

personally guarantee the lease normal

stuff um and so I crushed this launch

and then I wake up in morning I check

the bank account and uh it's completely

empty I was

like what's happening so I called him up

and he was like well I know you're

you're skimming from the business and I

was

like what he's like I know you're I know

you're you're skimming I was like I'm we

just what no um he's like well that was

my half uh and so I was like what is

happening so I I printed all the bank

the bank statements I went line by line

I was like let me I'll I'll walk you

through all the bank statements let's

just let's get to the bottom of this and

I remember we went sat to the meeting

and he was like I don't need to see that

he pushed it off the table and I was

like oh okay I immediately was like oh

he I just got

[ __ ] and he'd already been indicted

for fraud um and I knew this getting

into business with him and it was just a

big

misunderstanding and you know the saying

goes like uh when experience meets money

money gets the experience and experience

gets money um very much live that and so

after I had all my gyms I sold them put

all the money in this thing and then

they all got taken um and so I had

nothing and um lela's with me at this

point for this like this exciting period

so I was like okay she's like hey you

know maybe we should keep doing these

turnarounds instead of this weird launch

and go thing you side sidelined for I

was like okay we'll do that and so I was

going to launch a gym the next month um

and there was a guy who was local to

that gym and since I was refocusing I

was like all right I'm going to build

all the infrastructure I'll send this

sales guy out to do this thing and uh he

crushed the launch did like 120,000

which for us was a big launch um in like

three day uh in 3 weeks and so now I'm

at lelo's parents house because uh like

we don't really have a house at this

point um and I'm the guy that she met

from the internet that she quit her job

for uh who just lost everything and uh I

was I I needed this 100 Grand to come in

from this launch so that I could

recapitalize

and the money wasn't hitting I was

checking the bank account I was like

where's this money like and I I could

see the processing the transactions and

it was all success what's going on so I

called the the process process her up

and I was like what's up and they uh

they said it's a routine check I was

like I've been with you guys six years

it's never been a routine check and

they're like call again later and I was

like okay so I call about the next day

next day nothing and then finally it was

Christmas

Eve and I owed this guy money for the

commissions from the

sales and I was like I will not get off

this phone until you send me the money

that I am owed and uh to the payment

process mhm and they were like long

story short uh you were doing stuff in

different locations and I was running

this all through a local gym business

even though I was all over the nation

and they were like this is a little

irregular we're just going to hold on to

this for 6 months [ __ ] right now I owe

the guy $222,000 in commissions I in

total now had

$23,000 so I wired him the money and I

had $1,000 left and it was December of

2016 and I was like I screenshot it

because I still have the screenshot on

my bank account so I went from like six

gyms turnaround business all this stuff

to $1,000 and I was like this sucks

and Leila had just got six of her

friends to quit their job to come do

this turnaround business with me and

they were starting two days later from

the 24th so the 26th of December because

I planed on getting this 100 Grand in

and then being able to launch six gyms

because they took about you know

whatever uh it was $3,300 a day in cost

to have six guys out there in the field

selling 3,300 a day that I did not have

and so I saw out a credit card that

$100,000 limit on it um and so I'm at

her parents house like in in an extra

bedroom having lost everything and the

my one hail Mar play of this launch the

money did not come through and I was

like I I think you should leave me um I

I think I am a a sinking ship right now

and I would respect you like we're cool

if you want to walk away like we're good

like I won't think less of you like I

would walk away from you right now cuz

this could this has a very high likel of

not going

right and

um she pulled my chin towards her and

she was like I would sleep with you

under a bridge if it came to

that and it's hard to comprehend but

like I had nothing you know like for

have that kind of belief was was very

um it was deep for me so I was like [ __ ]

it let's go you know what I mean and so

then we we launched the gyms doing

$3,300 a day and uh mind you I had no

way to process money still so I'm

collecting 60 to 80 contracts a day that

I can't process and we're getting calls

from customers like hey why haven't you

run my card why haven't you run my card

I'm calling all these processors to like

hey can you pleas and as soon as you get

shut down from a processor it's like a

black mark it's like going bankrupt for

credit cards um they're like oh no

something's weird we they just won't

theyve other people they can process the

money for finally I get like a highrisk

processor that does like porn and

casinos and stuff to like give me and

they were like yeah so it's going to be

like 8% processing and we're going to

hold 10% as like Safeguard and I was

like Jesus okay yes and they're like and

we can only give you $50,000 as your

limit and I was like I was like I need

like 200 he's like well and I got this

on the 29th of January so this whole

time 3,300 a day is running on this card

and I have no money and I have no way to

process it and 29th of January I can run

50 Grand I run 50 Grand in a day and

he's like but it's by month he's like so

February 1st you can run another 50 so

February 1st I run another 5050 that 100

covers my cost from the month before

and then I get two more processors for

50 boom boom run those and then like I

got a third one or fourth one like two

weeks later and I was able to like start

moving things around um and at the end

of February uh we had made like a

$330,000 profit and um I was like okay I

think we might be out of this the next

month we did a little bit more and I was

like okay I think this is working and

then all of a sudden Lila Taps me on the

shoulder one morning and she's like she

like turn her laptop towards me and it's

our bank account and has all these

negative transactions like hundreds of

them and I was like what's going on she

was like well all these clients are

calling me saying that the gym that we

did this launch at month and a half ago

the guy got in his chair and was like

hey there's too many of you here like

just go home just refund because I was

the one who held the money they had to

do the delivery that was the model it's

like I would fill a gym up I would sell

I'd keep the money and then they deliver

on the services and after that they

could keep the customers that was kind

of like the the setup

and then another gym the next week said

hey this guy made 100 grand out of my

gym the average gym owner makes $36,000

a year take home like this kid from the

internet took 100 grand out in a month

screw that kid and so he told all the

customers who were there after we had

left hey I'll keep Del living your thing

refund him just pay me half what you

paid him so you out right it was a

flawed model like I didn't understand

like I didn't get it at that point and

so we had $150,000 in refunds that I had

to cover and I had had no way of doing

it mind you like Leela's like we're

going to do this I believe in you and so

I'm like I'm like I can't sleep I

remember because what would happen is

like the more we sold the more the

refund like it was a vicious cycle so I

had to sell more to cover the refunds

from the ones that were coming in and so

our sales were going up and it was just

like I just I couldn't breathe and I was

just I would wake up at night anyways

and so I'm like writing down these ideas

of like what I think I could do we had

eight launches that were supposed to

launch next month so I said hey you have

this little weight loss business cuz she

had her personal training business she

converted her on her inperson clients to

online during this whole process so she

was making like $3 or $4,000 a month and

mostly is like I'm not stable I'm like

making all this big money and losing it

all then making it and then losing and

she's just like paying groceries and

actually like making sure that I can eat

and I was like tell me more about that I

was like what's your overhead how much

time does it take you and then blah blah

blah I was like we're going to we're

going to do your thing we're going to

we're going to call Queen transformation

I'm going to start running ads for it

and we're going to take the sales team

and we're going to put it on your thing

and so within 14 days she starts taking

the phone calls because she was a good

salesman um she's doing a th Bucks A Day

online no no all margin what's that

product it was a 16we like weight loss

program that online yeah online exactly

and so it was 500 bucks she was selling

two of them a day and so I was like man

if we get the eight eight guys going

we'll have 8,000 a day 240 after ad span

I was like I can make 150 in profit and

like we'll be in the clear so I called

the eight guys that were supposed to

launch the next month with the the gyms

so I get on the phone with the first guy

and I was like Hey we're going another

Direction you know we're going to we're

going to be a weight loss company s

directed consumer and he was like dude

you launched my buddy's Gym like two

months ago and like he he can't stop

talking about you it's like it's packed

um because there there are other gyms

that everything went fine with just the

ones that didn't is the ones that

crushed the business he's like I know

you can do it um and I just refinanced

my house and I maxed out my credit cards

to to to make this gym happen and I I'm

going to lose it

and given what I had been through up to

this point I was like that's tough

man um sorry about that and then finally

he was like can you okay instead of

flying can you just show me what you did

to help my buddy out can you just give

me like the

system and since I was like I'm going to

get out of this gym business I was okay

like selling my secrets and so I was

like all right man I'll I'll give you

everything I have but I'm not going to

fly out there to save your ass if you

can't sell he said no no it's fine and

so I picked up the highest number I

could think of because he already told

me he was broke so I figured I could

just get him off the phone so we could

move on and I said

$6,000 and he was like 6 grand I was

like yeah he was like oh done and I

remember like looking at the phone and

being like holy [ __ ]

$66,000 and I was like oh what card do

you want to use for that wrote on like a

cardboard box and then the next call had

the same thing and I was like well shoot

I have to make this thing now and I was

like same conversation he's like how

much I was like eight grand and he was

like yeah okay

and I each of the calls I was like next

call same thing 10 grand next call same

thing 12 Grand and then the next you

know at the end of the day I'd sold

$60,000 in in licensing packages for all

of the stuff that we did to do the

turnarounds is that monthly or is that

just one it it was a it was a I didn't

even have any I was just like I'm just

giving you everything I do yeah it it

became more like more uh it became a

recurring model over time but it was a

PDF or

something um it was actually on my

internal stuff so it was like what I

used to train my sales teams that would

fly out and like I would use to train

them on how to do nutrition orientation

like it was all the internal stuff the

only thing I actually made external was

I had to create the uh the advertising

material so I had to basically make a

white label landing page for the gyms

that they could put their logo on and

then I gave I licensed them the ads

themselves that we already knew

converted right so like the videos the

copy everything they used like videos of

me that we knew converted and I taught

them how to run them and then that's

that's what it did it and uh we made

$60,000 in a day and I like Lea came in

from doing her two sales for weight loss

and I was

like I think we're still in the gym

business and she was like what I thought

we were doing weight loss like you just

told me you sold me on weight loss being

like the next thing I was like I just I

just think we were doing it wrong and so

I explained what had happened and she

was like so is this what we're going to

do now and I was like I guess I was like

I can call the other 30 gyms that we did

the turnarounds for I was like they know

we can do it cuz we just did it for them

and so I called all those guys up and we

did like $300,000 and Sal was that month

and it was basically all profit and I

covered the refunds and I covered the

everything and we were like in the clear

and then and then it was just and then

all those gyms that we did that we sold

the average gym did uh $30,000 in extra

cash collected in their first month

using our our system and so the key was

that like if they didn't have to pay the

overhead of the sales guy who's there

every day at the hotel the commission

for that guy like the rental car the PRM

like all the stuff that you have to

incentivize and just like rent it out of

their own gym and work the Le themselves

it became incredibly profitable uh for

them and um and then it just took off

like wildfire like we went from like our

first full 12 months of uh like January

to January uh we did 26 million Topline

17 million in iida our first 12 month

like it was it was insane like it's hard

to comprehend that like I like that was

the the moment I had been like dead

broke in her parents' house and then

like

six months later I have $3 million in

the bank account and then like 12 months

after that I've got like 20 Mill I was

it was it was insane and um I didn't

even know how you could pay taxes like I

didn't like I was figuring all this

stuff out but through that whole thing

Leila was just like you can do this like

we can do this like we've got this um

and I think sometimes you just need one

voice behind you that just just keeps

believing what happened then so that's

2016 um you turned things around over

the next couple years is what happens

you know leading up to where we are

today in terms of your business can you

give me a Topline summary in terms of

what's yeah I'll give you the tldr um

continued to grow gym launch uh two

years later we started a subl company

called Prestige Labs at this point we

had thousands of gym owners that had

licensed uh the business model and the

ads and all the stuff that we were doing

and so we sold through that distribution

base that company grew pretty good

pretty big pretty quickly um a year

after that we started a software company

that um also helped gyms get leads in

the door was just like an automated lead

thing and then um

2021 we sold all three of those

companies uh the supplement and the

licensing company we sold to American

Pacific group which is a private Equity

Firm out of San Francisco for uh 46.2

million for uh we sold two-thirds of the

company and then um the software company

we actually sold to a strategic buyer

who had like a massive base and we just

had a better monetization system than

they did um and that was an all stock

deal um so we're just it's continuing to

grow under their umbrella and they'll

probably sell in four or five years um

but from that and what we had taken in

dividends um during the licensing

business for the five years that it was

Rock still is rocking and rolling um we

started acquisition. so that became kind

of our family office and so we started

our first Investments I think First

Investments we did was in 2020 so there

is some overlap there um and part of the

reason that I was willing to sell it was

because the the Investments the first

three or four Investments we did did

really well

um and I was like okay this is what I

want to do as the next thing that you

know I didn't want to be the gym guy for

the rest of my life um because I'd been

you know at this point it had been I

think more than a decade um that I'd

been from like sleeping on the gym floor

to having multiple occasions to doing

the turnaround business to doing the

licensing like I'd been in that game for

a long time and I think that maybe I

could have stayed there and could have

just continued to compound it and

started doing Acquisitions under that

Fitness umbrella but I wanted

to do more General business stuff and so

that was uh that's what we did and so uh

now we now we buy chunks of companies

usually uh usually minority Stakes 25 to

49 is percent I mean we have one that

we're in the talks of that we were

originally minority stake in and we're

going to take majority because it's been

a great company and they want to the

founder in the same position as I was

like just wants to do other stuff and

it's a great business um so but that's

kind of how we we see it as like growth

Partners um we come in we write a check

we add value we help grow the business

what are you brilliant at you know you

kind of you kind of come to learn what

you're good at based on comparison but

you kind of understand your area of

expertise what is your area of brli

Brilliance or expertise I really want to

ask Caleb um

Caleb where's Caleb we can barely

see so Caleb sat around on the sofa in

the corner of the studio he is um friend

and creative director of Alex and I'm

asking Caleb what Alex is good at what's

his era of brilliance

I like it solving problems um for

companies simplifying complex things

into more digestible actionable um

Solutions as well and how would you

answer that question if you were

answering it for yourself I feel like I

fundamentally a lot of times don't

understand the world and so I think the

reason that some people have found the

content and things like that um good or

useful is because they feel like they

can understand it it's just because like

I didn't get it

right like terms like value right people

like provide more value like what does

that mean and so I just make a make an

attempt to define the terms that a lot

of us use every day and then it makes a

lot easier to solve for those things in

business and so you know a lot of people

like I want to grow my business I'm like

all right what does that mean like well

get more customers make them worth more

okay so it's one of those two things all

right well how do I make get more

customers like well there's eight ways

to do it here are the eight ways which

one do you feel like you're best at and

just like kind of thinking through

Frameworks that way is it's just for me

it's just been my way of

being able to be relatively competent in

a world that feels

confusing like there's a few things I

feel like I can understand and I just

hold on to those I mean that's the very

nature of innovation isn't it like

asking the question you we so so um

often in our lives just accept words and

phrases and ways of doing things then

there's a few people who are really good

like elon's one of them at just like

asking why and then when you ask why

like why can't you make an affordable

quote unquote electric vehicle that is

fast everyone else said you can't

yeah like why but why you know and then

he he's great at breaking it down into

like the core components of that

Innovation so well if we buy the metal

on the the iron exchange and we do this

and this then we can do it yeah it's

that's such an important thing in

entrepreneurship isn't it there's some

people who just ask

why naturally yeah it's like to to the

point like to Elon it's like I don't

understand why we can't yeah like just

explain to me why we can't so that I can

not think about this and I feel like

that's you know

I would say that that's the most common

thing like why isn't this company

growing like I don't get it like explain

it to me and then usually a lot of

people it's like they're they're in this

caught in this Loop you know what I mean

of doing what they've always done um or

like believing that this is the only way

um and I think a lot of times I've

benefited from like not knowing because

I my questions don't seem stupid to

me but only to somebody who like knows

what they're doing um it seems stupid

and so from there we're able to like I

guess to your point innovate um

just by being like I don't understand

that's what Steve Jobs from from

everything that I've read about Steve

Jobs and my brief conversation with

Steve wnc Once Upon a Time um is he was

just the the the voice in the room that

never understood why they

couldn't and even like when we think

about him removing the keyboard and

doing you know not refusing to use a

stylus and all these other crazy things

he did not using JavaScript I think at

the time and changing the port and

removing the iPhone Jack that that is

somebody who is so strong in their

conviction

in terms of like doing things a new way

how important do you think that is

generally like what in your view what

makes a really good um entrepreneur

leer I think that they have to have the

power to influence and that is across

lots of things just they have to be able

to move other people and you can Define

sales as the ability to get people to

comply with your request you can define

leadership the same way um management

marketing to a degree is getting people

to comply with a larger request you know

publicly um but I think that

fundamentally is a skill that people

have to have if they're going to be

successful at entrepreneurship um they

have to have tremendous Drive whether

that's a combination of towards or away

so they have a big mission that they

really want to achieve or they have some

very big fear that they're running away

from either way I think the fuel works

uh just from a pure entrepreneurship

perspective um third piece is impulse

control is that they have to be able to

say no to things on a regular basis for

an extended period of time

um and I think they have to to be able

to boil down the success of their

business into inputs and outputs like if

you do not know the inputs that are

going to get the output that you want

then what are you

doing and so I think for for most

entrepreneurs like if they have those

things if they have the ability to lead

other people SL sell just influence they

have some big motivator they can control

themselves long enough to keep on going

during that period of time and they are

doing the right things because they know

the inputs and outputs uh to be

successful to create their the thing

that they want um becomes a very

difficult person to beat on that first

point then sales one of the things I I

read um in some of your work is this

idea that if everybody just went and

spent two years doing door-to-door sales

that oh my God why is that important why

why do you think do door sales is a key

thing I think it's um just for w for

broader definitions for the audience I

think it's just high volume

transactional sales so whether that's

you doing door to door or you cold

calling um or you working the front desk

at a gym where you do 20 consults a day

like just having a high volume because

in order to learn a skill you want to

have as much exposure as you can to

repeat the action and then you want

quick feedback loops so that you can

learn what you did wrong so the perfect

scenario would be Mentor mentee repeated

exposure fix this try again fix this try

again and um in sales if you can survive

that long then you are good enough that

you will have gotten enough feedback

like for most people if they can weather

the first three months of say sales then

they'll usually be fine and so for the

people who are coming up I always tell

them like go Shadow the best guy and do

twice the volume he's doing because

you're not as good as him so like do

twice the volume that they're doing work

all of the hours and you will get better

faster because you're doing you have to

suck for X period of time and so if you

can condense how how long that takes you

in terms of calendar days not hours um

you can get there faster but I think

that it's important because one you have

to learn how to get re rejected and

still keep going and I think that's a

very valuable skill and then two there's

lots of like little things that you

learn and just interpersonal

communication that allow you that you

can use with teammates later you can use

in marketing because a lot of the best

marketers started as salespeople and

marketing is just sales one to many as

least as as I understand it um and so

having that kind of repetition just

develops a deep understanding of human

psychology I think um and I think it's

important for if you want to get people

to give you money for the thing that you

have um having that as a base skill

comes in handy I think a lot of people

aren't orientated towards developing

skills I think they're orientated to

Lifestyle to what I can post on

Instagram to cool whatever's cool um but

this idea of developing skills requires

this thing that's kind of absent in

modern culture which is patience and a

lot like you said rejection who wants

that you know it wasn't there was no

glamour in what you said Alex yeah it's

funny because a lot of us want traits

right we want to be patient we want to

be humble we want to be you know

longsuffering whatever words you want to

use um um but in order to if I would say

hey how would you create if you had to

create a human what would you put them

through to make them

tough it probably wouldn't be a really

chill life yeah what would you put them

through to make them patient you

probably wouldn't give them things

immediately and so it's like we want

these

traits but each of the traits has a

price tag attached to it and it's just

like do you want to pay the price tag to

get the thing and so I think if if

people reframe the the period of life

that they're going through as the price

that they're paying out of their wallet

but the wallet is their time it's the

seconds of life that they're trading for

it then I think more people will be

willing to make the trade because at

least when I look at myself like when

I'm 80 something years old and I'm

looking back on my life I want to have

these traits but in order to have those

traits I know I have to go through these

things and I think for me that's given

me a lot of comfort in hard times one of

the things kind of adjacent to that

which causes patience is the belief that

you are at some point going to get there

so like you know it's all well and good

you saying to me you do this for 5 years

Steve

um you'll build the skill but I go well

listen if I want to be a millionaire um

and I and I have a low self-belief I'm

going to have low conviction so I'm not

even going to take the BET yeah so how

does one build that self-belief self

belief is such an interesting thing

because it feels like this real it's

clear to some degree that you had it in

that moment of turmoil also the reason I

say to some degree is because it didn't

seem like you had a plan B

anyway

so you were already in your like your

parents-in-law like playroom or whatever

so I had nothing to lose yeah you had

nothing to lose so I don't know how much

self belief is applicable but regardless

to to keep gracing those hurdles self

you need some kind of conviction that

like this is the right way to go how do

people build that so I I hear that and

to like to to to Echo the point you just

made I hated my current existence and so

I think some people like don't hate

their current existence enough and so

like I don't think you like you either

have to really believe that this thing's

going to happen or you have to know that

your life sucks and I knew that my life

sucked and so I knew that if I did

something else it would have it would

have a higher likelihood of changing my

life than not doing something and at

least that's how I would say that I

probably saw it in the beginning it's

like I didn't know if it was going to

work but I knew that I wasn't going to

stop I read I heard a quote some 10

years ago which from just came to mind

when you said that on some YouTube

family Vlog where he

said change happens when the pain of

staying the same becomes greater than

the pain of making a change and in your

situation now it sounds like well this

is less painful 100% I think and I think

that's the basis of of most either you

have to have a reward that is that that

incentivizes you it's the away towards

her away it's either we're going away

from pain or going towards pleasure and

I think a lot of people really looking

for that passion that's going to be

towards but I think early days and I

talk a lot about this but like I think

negative motivation is poo pooed too

much like if you are angry use it if you

are sad use it because like what else

are you going to do with

it like you might as well let it help

you like or it uses you you know what I

mean and so I always like to see when I

was in my earlier days I felt like I was

wielding my anger at least in a

direction and I think also a lot of

people think that they have to get like

it right on the first shot but one of

the beliefs that I had was that I just

want to be directionally correct like if

I move I like I know that I don't like

this and so this way is not where I am

and so I will start taking steps way and

from the story that you at least heard

it's like I'll ping pong a little bit to

try and directionally move that way and

it's funny because Caleb's seen plenty

of things from what we do at

acquisition. comom where we're like

we'll try it out and if it doesn't work

then we're like

oops all good do you believe in

yourself I think

that I have a high likelihood of

repeating activities that I've done in

the past and up to this point I have

lots of evidence that would suggest that

it that I will continue why didn't you

say Yes um

because I based the answer on that

question on what I've done before and I

think it's been it's just based on

evidence now so it's it's not like a

like a Charisma thing at least for me

it's just like I've done these things

and so I think it's probable that I'll

be able to

continue is there a deeper reason to why

you didn't just say

yes that's actually how I think about

it is that because it's that feels

difficult to say you believe in yourself

yeah it feels weird I don't know if

hokei is the right word um for what that

feels like for me but like saying the

way that I said it is how I is how I

feel about

it h have you been on a journey of in

terms of Self Doubt over over the last

you

know 30 years for sure I think it was um

but I mean fear was my big fear and

anger hand in hand were my big

motivators in the

beginning and I

maybe that's from soft out but I would

say that the I I was very certain and I

can I can I can feel this and I I

remember this um I was always certain

that I wasn't going to

stop like that I can I didn't know I

didn't know whether I would succeed I

thought it was

probable but I did know I wasn't going

to stop and so for me that was like

enough to get me going or keep me going

was like what are the controllables me

okay well if I do this so like I'm big

on making like unreasonable like

unreasonable that it doesn't work out

statements just like if I do sales and I

do more volume than everyone else on

this team and I Shadow the guy who's the

best and I do that for five years it's

unreasonable that I won't be at least

mediocre it will be probable that I'm

above average and it's also probable

that I'll learn other things along the

way and I'll also have the resources at

that point in 5 years that I can jump

into things now that I have more context

or perspective from which to make a

judge on what a good next opportunity is

and so I like very easy to believe

statements and then having the input

output equation being like the output is

that I will be a very good salesman the

inputs is that I have to do I have to

collect 5,000 NOS if I collect 5,000 NOS

I'll be a very good salesman and that

for me like when I was a kid when I

played video games I would beat the same

level over and over and over over again

so that when I got to the next level I

would crush everybody because I'd had

all the experience points maxed out and

so like those input output equations are

really helpful for me like when I took

the GMAT to get into Harvard my first

score was like okay it wasn't great um

but I I read the study on how to do well

on standardized tests and they had this

graph and it went like this it was just

a straight line it said number of

problems practiced on gmath score so

like the more problems you did on

average the higher your test score was

and I was like done so I bought 16 phone

books of like they like these thick like

test prep books and I did four hours of

problems every day for three months

every day I'd get home from work I would

eat dinner I would do four hours of

problems had a timer did every day and

then I scored a 99 Point whatever

percentile because it was just input

output like I didn't I I didn't I was

naturally not even that good at math um

but I just was like if I do 10,000

[ __ ] problems like I'll start to just

understand how these problems get asked

and so like I always trying and find

like what's the input output for this

the content game I was like okay well if

we post once a day on one platform we

will get some some eyeballs if we post

on every platform every day we will get

more eyeballs if we post multiple times

a day on every platform we'll get even

more eyeballs so let's do that let's

build that system 100% And so like those

are the like I try and make statements

that I believe are unreasonable that if

I do it enough it will be true and so

that's for me that's what gives me the

confidence to say like what if it's not

working like it will eventually like if

we just keep doing it it will

work what does it take to want to do

something potentially for years so that

you can get good at

it cuz you know there's going to be

people thinking well I want to be a

great DJ but I just can't find the

motivation to spend every day three

hours practicing Alex yeah like you

probably won't be a good

DJ but I be I would be like you like

your current state enough that you like

the pain of change thing right like

you're not in enough pain I've said that

to plenty of people we go speak and

someone's like how do I get motivated

I'm like you're not going to get motiv

like you have to hate for me like it I

automatically go there I'm like you have

to hate something like for me I just

hated my current existence and so for me

that was powerful enough to get me out

there's got to be another way though you

know I was thinking to you that moment

where you took the leap MH you know and

there's I feel I often feel like most

people that listen to this podcast often

are at a point in their life where

they're considering a leap yeah feel

like we drag those type of people in we

kind of like we're a magnet to those

people so if they if they're in a

situation that they don't like but it's

not that painful you know it's

comfortable well that's the worst it's

comfortable but little bit miserable

yeah how do you get them to take the

leap when it's so

comfortable my boss is promising me a

promotion I think about death all the

time it's like I'm going to die and I

think you have to agitate the pain for

yourself like you have to stoke the pain

like if you can't get through through

cuz like it would be it it would be odd

that you would be motivated by some

weird passion like not everyone's Mozart

and just like I just love music and I've

been I see in you know see numbers in

colors you know whatever like some

people are like that but most people

aren't and so if you're not that

then you only start really liking stuff

when you get good at it in my opinion

and you only get good at it by doing it

a lot of times before you're good at it

and so if

you this is why I'm a big big believer

in this is that when you are starting

out I think got to find the thing that's

the pain and like pain motivates

significantly faster and stronger than

pleasure does like people are like no

passion is the right way it's like point

of gun at a family member all of a

sudden 10 out of 10 motivation pain and

so like I think people should use their

pain more and if they don't have enough

pain then one maybe that's fine and

you're a dreamer and that's okay but I

will tell you that a word that I can I

read in my like six-month Journey

between when I wanted to quit and when I

actually quit there was this word that

just like pissed me off and it was this

in the self Hub or entrepreneur book and

it said there are entrepreneurs and

there are

wantrepreneurs and I was like and it was

like wantrepreneurs or people who read

these books and don't do anything blah

and I was just like I don't want to be I

was like I am one of these right now and

I just it just like felt

so powerless and I think that my entire

life has been a lot of trying

to have power and I mean that in the

true sense of just being able to direct

influence and events um I've wanted to

have more power to protect myself

protect the people I care about Etc um

and I felt very powerless and I think

that I was in that comfortable like my

dad approved of my current situation I

had a job that when I told people they

were like oh that's fancy but I felt

powerless and I I hated that more than

anything and so I think I think if I

want to say this to anyone who's

listening if there's anything you listen

to all the stuff that I described that

was really tough that I went through was

not as hard as me quitting my

job by far the hardest decision of my

entire life far

none because the things that I was

actually caught up with were the

opinions of other people opinions of my

father and the opinions of the people

that I went to school with who I thought

would judge me for leaving this good job

to probably become a failed gym owner

and how lame that would sound compared

to consultant going to Harvard and bl

like I was going to go from Peak white

collar to a very blue color you know

profession making significantly less

because I quote loved it and like it I

I'll say this again but like sometimes

you have to let other people's streams

for your life die for yours to live and

for me it was like when I when I

continued to every day not want to wake

up that was my wake up call where I was

like either I continue to live this way

and not want to be

alive or I just risk the fact that I'll

die to everybody else and I think that

like it was the hardest decision in my

entire life by far all the all the hard

stuff we went through still the hardest

decision in my life how much was money

on your mind when you made that decision

the desire to be financially free to the

point where you had

Millions it's weird money um Caleb would

know this money doesn't really motivate

me uh I would say that it I mean I love

the game for sure um but I love playing

the game and the tokens are there

um but for me it was it was it was it

was beating my dad you know what I mean

I didn't want him to be right like

that's what it was like I didn't want

him to be right I just I just I remember

like I I'd be sleeping on the floor I'd

be miserable I had you know when I had

my gym and I had no trainers I was

teaching all the classes and so I'd wake

up I'd do 4:00 a.m. 5 a.m. 6 a.m 7 8

a.m. sessions and then I would then uh

work out for myself and then I would uh

do uh I'd do all the marketing and the

ads and the stuff that I have to in the

middle of day and then I would teach the

four the 4 p.m. the 5: p.m. the 6 p.m.

the 7:00 p.m. and then I would do sales

consults at 8 9 10 11 and then I would

do the billing for all the all the

contracts from 11: to like 12 12:30 and

then I'd wake up again and I did that

for like six months and like I started

to like lose my mind because I wasn't

sleeping um but even during like those

times I just literally I would Envision

going back to Baltimore to my father and

have and knowing that he would give me

the false modesty of like why know you

tried about it now let's get you back on

this thing and I knew that from that

moment on he would own me and I just

couldn't I I couldn't I couldn't do it I

was like I will do anything but go back

to that and for me that was my I I would

do

anything and so whatever that maybe you

need to agitate some pain in your life

you know to get out of your current

circumstance um and just as a total side

note play it out what if you just never

do anything is like maybe May some

people just need to stop

dreaming maybe they need to accept their

current reality and actually enjoy it

because there's a lot of people in their

70 and 80 and they didn't do their

dreams and if they went back like they

didn't do anything but that whole time

they were dissatisfied because they

didn't try but what if they were just

like I have a good life I have a wife

who loves me I've got some kids I have a

job that I you know like I don't mind it

pay the bills I mean if you go back 500

years it wasn't people are like man this

is my passion he's like dude I'm just

rowing rowing a boat across a ferry and

that's what I do and that's what my dad

did and his dad did like this is how we

eat and so like we have these these um

idealized versions of purpose that I

think Instagram and all this stuff kind

of make terrible but like I think

there's a lot of honor and work period

And I think a lot of people uh fool

themselves by thinking that what they do

for some reason is not honorable and I

think a lot of it is like the internal

versus external scorecard of

like I was saying what I said earlier

about like I believe these things to be

true about the universe or like the

world but a lot of those are like what

do I believe about myself which is like

I can choose to do work in this way

which then I can derive Joy from so like

if I'm Shoveling

[ __ ] I can choose to be like I will be

the best [ __ ] shoveler because I believe

that I will figure out how to do this

more efficiently and I will you know I

will I will get better and I'll have

calluses on my hands and I'll have a

better back and whatever um but I will

do this

well and I think you can find joy and

work if you decide to do it well so on

one hand if you are if if you if your

dream causes you so much pain then you

will quit what you're doing and do it

and if it doesn't cause you enough pain

that you're not pursuing it or that you

don't like if you don't feel like you're

in a cage right

now then maybe you're not in a cage and

maybe you just need to like the life you

have and that's cool too a previous

guest on this podcast called moat said

we're unhappy when our expectations of

how we think life is supposed to be

going are unmet and in that there's

something very sort of linked to what

you just said there which is we have

this external expectations set by

Instagram or whatever by People Like Us

yeah who who who um are in a position of

um Financial Freedom and have built an

audience who you know admire those

people for what they've achieved and if

someone wants to be admired they think

well I need to be like Alex right um and

that I could be working in a shop

actually objectively like subjectively

having a great time in the shop but I

look up at Alex and go my life sucks

right

and and like so in that I'm like it's

very difficult um because of the

pressure of external I was just thinking

when you said it that I was thinking

this whole idea of like passion and

purpose is probably like 60 years old

yeah it's all brand

new and it probably originated when we

were like connected you know like radio

TV yeah all of this ad advertising which

made us change our expectations of our

own lives when living in the village and

like helping out at the bakery was

probably delivered the same amount of

Happiness core happiness than being on

the private jet and whatever else does

now I think most people are just as

happy and just like you're 50% happy 50%

sad for most of your life if you're in

an extreme circumstance then change your

life if you're not like conditions like

people get handicapped they break their

legs you know they they can never move

again and they have a dip in their

subjective well-being and they go back

to the same Baseline and so like the

Baseline is independent of

conditions and so the world World wants

to tell us that we need to change our

you know change our circumstances and

then we will be whatever but like every

modern religion every Buddhist monk will

tell you that all of that's from the

inside not the outside um but these are

words and words that me and you yeah can

say don't follow

yeah because I'm sure that you've you've

experienced like the attainment of a

goal and then I just need three times

more yeah I'm referencing a study there

where they they ask people how much

money they would need to be happy and

all the way up the income wealth

Spectrum people said three times more

than they have now so people with 10K

said 30 people with 3 million said you

know 9 million fing can do math three

time 3 * 3 yeah um and you you I imagine

you still experience that now right yeah

different reasons but yeah for sure when

is enough enough um I don't think it's

enough thing I think it's more like who

I want to be who do you want to be I

want to be the person capable

of of doing that doing X like we'll get

to a billion and then after a billion I

I'll make it 10 I already know that you

know what I mean but like I love playing

the game what is the game game of

business to what to what end or just

just for the play to play yeah I'm I'm

sure you know more about this than I do

but like just Game Theory like the

finite and infinite games Simon sonck

has a great piece on it um but yeah with

infinite games you have known and

unknown players you have no greed upon

rules and the point of the game is to

keep the game going and so a lot of te

people will take a finite game game

where you have known only known players

agreed upon rules and a set outcome um

for winning and they will apply it to an

infinite game so people are like I want

to they apply a finite contract to

health they're like I want to win Health

it's like you don't win Health like okay

you're in shape now what you stay in

shape you keep staying in shape I want

to win at marriage you don't win at

marriage you keep the marriage going

that's playing the game of marriage if

you want to you don't win at business

you keep playing the game of business

and so we want to take these finite

contracts and put them on on on infinite

games and I think that's where people

get get in trouble because they're

they're like I have to keep moving the

goal post but if the goal post is to

play then you win by playing and so for

that re like sure we set goals for the

company but like I'm a th% super

motivated and at the same time if we

never hit it I'm just going to be happy

that I was able to play I also know that

in three generations everyone will

forget who I

am I saw your post about the queen yeah

was that a

stab no no no it wasn't it wasn't for me

if I'm being honest um but uh but it's

an interesting what did the post say

remember well she amassed more wealth

than

99.99% of the world she ruled for 70

years uh was you know a female Monarch

which is insane especially 70 years AG

could just like all it's had amazing

family all this amazing whatever I I

don't know the tabls you do um and when

I posted it it had been I think five or

six months since she had died

exactly and I was like you probably

haven't thought about her today except

for this post she probably accomplished

more in her life than we probably

will so if you afraid of other people

thinking about you just remember that

six months after you die they're not

going to be and so it's like we have all

these fears about other people but like

most of them won't even show up to your

funeral because they're going to be

busy and so like I I think about death

all the time and that's that's what I

think for me has given me a lot of uh

freedom to take big shots because like

at the end of the day I think that it's

not going to matter no one's going to

remember people in Thailand don't know

who I am today let alone in five 10

years 100 years it's a trap that the

mind can quite easily fall into though

thinking you are the center of the

universe and with that comes an immense

amount of weight and pressure and

anxiety totally I I have a trick I've

never talked about this before but

whenever I feel myself slipping into the

Trap of kind of overstating my

importance and what I mean by that is

like thinking my problems are big

problems

I go on YouTube and I type in

um there's this one video that shows a

camera on Earth that just zoom out and

it keeps going and eventually Earth

becomes this tiny Speck then Earth

becomes this tiny Speck which is the

Galaxy then the Galaxy becomes this tiny

Speck in a bunch of galaxies then you

can't see any of it anymore and then

also this idea that like hundred years

ago I didn't feel anything didn't think

anything nobody KN knew me 100 years

from now exactly what you said

absolutely I mean [ __ ] five minutes

after I die I

think but um and that feels really

liberating it like relieves stress from

my

body which is an interesting thing

because a lot of people don't like

thinking about the death you know a lot

of I love thinking about it yeah all the

time I know from doing this podcast that

a lot of people won't click if we we

post something about death they won't

because they don't even want to confront

the concept of it which

is people are afraid of it just because

they don't understand

it it's kind of like the Hate Thing how

do you feel about death I'm good with it

when you say I'm good with it what do

you mean if I die tomorrow I'm good with

it like I want to leave it all on the

field I'm going to try as hard as I can

and I know that no one will remember me

on a long enough time Horizon and I'm

good with that like I'm cool with

it if I told you you were going to die

tomorrow would you be

sad I'd probably hang out with Lila

a little I guess a little more than I

always do but like um I would say I

wouldn't be sad I'd be bummed be like

man there's all [ __ ] I want to do uh but

I don't think I'd be like depressed I

think I'd be I mean my D to be fair

maybe I'll find out and maybe I'll get

hit by a bus tomorrow but um no I think

like I've lived life the way I want to

live life

and I'm good with it if you were to go

today had you really like given it

everything had you lived the life you

you feel like you were really destined

to

live me absolutely an interesting Mind

Trick around the same topic is so when

when Betty White dies right at 99 or

whatever like people are like she lived

a good life but when Kobe dies before

his time right it's a big

deal and I see that as a contrast

between expectations in reality and I'm

going to tell a story that hopefully

people don't take the wrong way but I

had a cat and really liked the cat and

it died at two years old really liked it

young guy heart thing or something

whatever and I remember being like

really bummed about it and I was like

huh how can I not think this and so I

was like the only reason I bummed is

because I think that he should have

should being the the big word that

Everyone likes to use he should have

lived longer I was like what if cats

only lived 6 months and I got to have

him for two years I was like I probably

be pretty stoked about that and all of a

sudden I was significantly less sad

about it and I was like I got to have

him for two years I was like awesome and

so I think like for for me for us

whatever um if we were to change our

expectation like people think they

should live until everyone thinks

they're going to live to 100 which is

kind of interesting because like the

average life expens is 74 and if you're

like 36 you're middle-aged if you

actually do the math which no one wants

to do uh being middleaged 36 I know

right I know right I want to go yeah but

I think if we shift our expectations

then like expectations is the thing it's

the it's the thing right and so we can

if we expected if I expected that I was

supposed to have lived 20 years and I

made it to

33 stoked Jesus lived till 33 he did a

lot more than I have you know what I

mean and so I'm good with it if I die

tomorrow like only reason I would be

upset is is if I demanded from the

universe that I live longer

but like 500 years ago average life

expectancy was like 35 you know it was

just not like Dark Ages ladies and

gentlemen I am so delighted to finally

be able to announce that one of my

alltime favorite Brands and now

sponsoring this podcast and that is

whoop all of you know that I've been on

a bit of a journey in terms of health

performance cognitive performance sleep

and all those kinds of things that's

kind of been reflected in the guests

we've had on this podcast and whoop has

been a huge part of my life for many

many many years that's part of the

reason I also had the founder come on

the podcast after having will on the

podcast I love the brand even more

hearing about his vision his passion for

the project where it came from his own

Obsession was solving a problem which

turned into the product that is whoop

whoop is a weable health and fitness

coach that provides you with the

feedback and real actionable insights

into sleep into recovery into how you're

training into your stress levels and

your overall health and for me it's

empowered me to be the best version of

myself across all of those aspects of my

life the whoop team have very kindly

offered to give all of you a free month

so just head to join. woop.com CEO to

claim your device and your first free

month on us working hard we talked about

repetitions earlier working hard is

quite a controversial Topic in

2023 which is weird do you see what I

mean though

yeah I'm probably not in the circles

where it's