THIS Is Your FASTEST Path To Escape Your 9-to-5 Job With Less Risk with Codie Sanchez

Ever wonder what it takes to leap from passion to profit? This episode is a treasure trove of wisdom and entrepreneurial strategy as I sit down with Codie Sanchez, a powerhouse in business acquisition and an expert in turning the mundane into millions. Codie, known for her savvy in navigating the often overlooked opportunities in 'boring' businesses, shares her incredible journey and the strategies that anyone can use to find financial freedom and business success. Combined with my own experiences of building an entrepreneurial empire, this episode will redefine your approach to business and success. This approach to business is not just about making money; it’s about creating value and learning the art of the deal. In our conversation, we delve deep into the nuts and bolts of acquiring businesses—a path less traveled but brimming with potential. Here’s what you’ll gain from tuning in: Learn strategies to identify undervalued businesses and how to spot and seize opportunities in the least glamorous but most lucrative corners of the market. Learn secret negotiation tactics to secure deals that can transform your financial landscape. Discover why sometimes the most ordinary businesses could be your ticket to extraordinary wealth. Codie opens up about the challenges and triumphs along her journey, providing you with the roadmap to pursue your own path. This is the episode that can help you make the leap from being INTERESTED in entrepreneurship to LIVING it. Codie and I are here to empower you with the knowledge and inspiration to take control of your destiny, one deal at a time. Prepare to be inspired, educated, and transformed. Whether you’re a seasoned entrepreneur or just starting out, this is an episode you cannot afford to miss. Join us as we uncover the secrets to building wealth through business acquisitions and share the tools you need to succeed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Ed Mylett?

  So hey guys, are you frustrated with where you're at right now? Maybe stunted in your progress? Well, if you are, I want to recommend a place for you to go called Growth Day. GrowthDay.com/Ed. It is the number one personal development app on the planet. It's got all kinds of high-performance techniques in there. Courses, accountability, journaling, live speeches from some of the top influencers in the world, including me. It's an overall environment to change your life. GrowthDay.com/Ed. I hear so many small business owners say the exact same thing. They just never have enough time in the day. Well, I measure time differently. I've compressed, condensed, heck, I've bent time. My first day is 6:00 a.m. to noon. My second day starts at noon and goes till 6:00 p.m. And my third day, 6:00 p.m. to midnight.

• 0:46Ed Mylett?

  I now get 21 days a week. Stack that up over a month, over a year, over five years, and my life's completely different than it would have been otherwise. And if you want to win as an entrepreneur, you have to compress your time too. And you definitely can't afford to waste it waiting weeks on a big bank for capital. Your best bet's to work with my friends at Cardiff. They know how to compress time for entrepreneurs. They get your business approved in minutes and funded the very same day. They're America's favorite small business lender, and for good reason. Over 20 years in business, over $12 billion deployed to small business across America. Stop letting bank delays slow down your momentum. Head to cardiff.co/Ed. That's cardiff.co/Ed. Cardiff.co. Real growth, fast funding. Cardiff, borrow better.

• 1:31Speaker 01

  This episode is brought to you by Michelob Ultra. Good times mean competitions between you and your friends, like seeing who can throw some pigskin the farthest or rush the field the fastest. Winner gets an Ultra. Because it's not just a superior light beer, it's also giving fans superior access to their favorite sporting events. Superior is worth playing for. Visit michelobultra.com/superioraccess to enter. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright 2026 Anheuser-Busch InBev Michelob Ultra Beer, St. Louis, Missouri.

• 2:05Ed Mylett?

  This is the Ed Meyer Show.

• 2:09Ed Mylett?

  Welcome back to the show, everybody. So this lady that's on today, I actually sought her out after seeing her content. I think she makes some of the best content on all social media as it comes to business. She's got a background at Goldman. She's been in the VC business before. She's done all kinds of different things in business and I love watching people online that I know have actually done the things that they talk about. And she's done that. So from Wall Street to Main Street to your living room today. I'm super happy to have her here today. She's the co-founder of Contrarian Thinking. She's brilliant. You're going to take a ton of notes. Codie Sanchez, welcome to the show.

• 2:44Codie Sanchez?

  I'm excited to be here. I've been a fan of yours for years, Ed. I think it's really cool what you do online.

• 2:47Ed Mylett?

  Thank you. Well, likewise. All right. We'll start something unique and rare. We share a brain on a lot of things. So I watched a piece of content here the other day and you're like, I think you can tell if someone's going to be successful in business by how they order off of a menu in a restaurant. This is a, this may not seem like deep content, everybody, but there's a huge lesson behind this. I so believe this to be true about decisiveness. So I'll let you kind of take the floor on it. But this is real stuff here.

• 3:13Codie Sanchez?

  Yeah, we call it speed to urgency. So I think that if you want to hire somebody, you shouldn't go and see if you could have a beer with them at the airport. That's what everybody says. Can I enjoy a beer with them at the airport? You don't need to be friends. In fact, I think what you could do is you could watch them order at a coffee shop that has a lot of options for breakfast. And the thing that is really important to me is that they know what they want and they don't want to waste anybody else's time. Even better if there's a line, you know? I was at the coffee shop the other day. It was in La Jolla and it was like a young-ish woman and she must've taken five minutes. What's that? What's that? And there's two problems with it. One, how many times have you ordered coffee and you don't know what you want yet? Come on, you're in your 30s. Second is, look at this line that you have behind you.

• 3:55Codie Sanchez?

  You have no situational awareness that you don't want to, you know, you don't want to make these other people wait. And so it sounds silly, but I think the way that we do anything is the way that we do everything. So I try to be really thoughtful on the things that I can control at least, not getting out of control.

• 4:10Ed Mylett?

  It was funny when I watched it. It's super legit. So like, most people that I have to come work for me, I actually go to lunch with them. And one of the things that drives me Nuts is indecisive people. There's nothing wrong with that. Maybe if you're really deliberate, but I'm watching you and I'm like, hey, the thing you said about self-awareness is big. I know before I go to a restaurant, what I'm gonna get. You know what I mean? Like, there's only so many things on a menu. It's like, I'm gonna have the steak. Let's just go. Like, anyway, or the person like orders a million different micro details when they do it. Drives me up the wall. Anyway.

• 4:41Codie Sanchez?

  Unless you're accountant, no thanks.

• 4:43Ed Mylett?

  No, thank you. So this may sound funny that I started with it, but I'm like, well, it's a good piece. I like content I can remember. The way people teach things. So the one, I'm like, everyone's behind that person at Starbucks. And if you haven't, you're that person.

• 4:56Ed Mylett?

  But the other thing you say in business that is not talked about almost anywhere other than you. It's a lot of things online about starting businesses. Real estate's a real big topic online. Almost everybody's sort of a real estate guru. Almost nobody talks about buying businesses other than you as a way to get into business. So let's just start there because to be honest with you, my kids are at that age now where they're going into business. And there's this huge part of me that doesn't think they should just start from scratch. Or they don't have to go buy multi-units like everybody's doing. But there's this entire other wide open lane that's almost a secret. So let's just start by laying the foundation for that.

• 5:39Codie Sanchez?

  Yeah. Well, first of all, business is hard and sufferable, uncivilized and brutal. And so anytime I talk about buying businesses, I get really careful to not have people think that there's some get rich quick. Buy this guy's business. It's making a million bucks tomorrow. That's not gonna happen. And I get really specific too. If you go and buy a business, know one thing for sure. That the person who ran the business for the past 30 years in a specific trade knows more than you do. And so a lot of young guns come in and they go, ah, 30-year HVAC company, they got a fax machine in here. I'm gonna, I'm gonna take this company. I'm gonna seven exit. Assume you're gonna do 30% worse to start.

• 6:15Ed Mylett?

  Right.

• 6:15Codie Sanchez?

  And then in three to five years, you might 10 or 20 exit.

• 6:18Ed Mylett?

  Right.

• 6:19Codie Sanchez?

  But give yourself that 12 to 18 month period. So those are my disclaimers. But the thought overall is simply this, that. If you just look at the math, most startups lose money for the first year. You pay for the potential ability one day to make money in your startup. More than 70% of startups die from lack of product market fit, which basically means you came up with an idea. Your friend said, that's awesome. You should totally do that business. But those friends never gave you a dollar for that business. And so startups, I think, should be done when you cannot sleep for the want of the thing. It has to exist in the world. But if all you want is money, there is money that exists all around in these small businesses. And in fact, what a waste that, you know, we're here in Florida, right?

• 7:05Codie Sanchez?

  The average age in Florida is 25% older than most of the country, which means that a lot of these people are right in the prime time business owner, 65 plus range. And who's going to take over their businesses? My belief is that maybe you don't even go in and buy it day one. If you're a brand new young gun, maybe you go work for them a little bit, learn the business and then earn the right to take over the business. We used to do that.

• 7:29Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 7:30Codie Sanchez?

  And now people just shut up businesses.

• 7:33Ed Mylett?

  What would somebody, what if someone's listening, they go, that sounds great. I don't have a ton of capital. You have the saying, I don't remember what it is, I'll let you say it. But the fact is, most businesses stay for sale for a long time and aren't acquired at all. And I think sometimes people might be surprised how easy the barrier of entry is to getting into buying or acquiring somebody's business.

• 7:52Codie Sanchez?

  Yeah, 100%. I mean, go into any room, anywhere. I always play this game when I speak, I go, okay, business owners, raise your hand, keep it up. They keep it up. I go, how many of you guys would sell your business at the right price and the right terms? How many hands do you think stay up? Everyone. Including me, right? And at varying times, you own multiple businesses. I own multiple businesses. I sell businesses all the time. And by the way, I've even given businesses back to the operator of a business because I made great money on it. And that operator, that was material to them and it wasn't material to me anymore. And it wasn't worth my time. So I just transitioned the business back to them. No problem. Very normal.

• 8:30Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 8:30Codie Sanchez?

  And I think the, you know, the, the ratio basically goes like this. Provide outsized returns and help to those who have ownership in return for future ownership.

• 8:42Codie Sanchez?

  And all you have to do is start talking to the people who own these small businesses about this. If I come in, I help you operationalize the business. I take away some of your pain points in the business. Can I get a percentage of it, which is called sweat equity or expertise to equity? You know, you could also have the seller finance the deal for you.

• 8:59Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 8:59Codie Sanchez?

  Seller financing.

• 9:01Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 9:01Codie Sanchez?

  Happens all the time in real estate. Sixty percent of all businesses are sold with some percentage of seller financing. And so this is actually just a normalized thing that is not easy, but is common.

• 9:12Ed Mylett?

  Bathwater method, that's what it is, right?

• 9:14Codie Sanchez?

  Oh, yeah.

• 9:14Ed Mylett?

  So bathwater method, I've found this to be true, too. Like, I, I always like to say, well, I bought a lot of these businesses. To be candid, a lot of them that I've ended up acquiring required zero capital.

• 9:27Codie Sanchez?

  Oh, yeah.

• 9:27Ed Mylett?

  Because the person was just so fatigued. They didn't get it sold. I'll let you talk to it because you're better than I am. But this is really important for a lot of you that are going, I'd like a second lane. Maybe I'd like, it might even be a side hustle, small business. But also a transition out is, a lot of people have their business for sale for a while. I love how you term this, so I'll let you say it, not me, but I have waited on people long enough where they're just like, look, I, I was selling it because I don't want to do it anymore. I thought I could get some capital for it. I can't now. Could we work something out where I can just stop, please? Right?

• 9:58Codie Sanchez?

  Yeah, exactly.

• 9:59Ed Mylett?

  So what's the bathwater method?

• 10:00Codie Sanchez?

  Yeah. So the bathwater method is basically this. As a business owner, a lot of times you get to a point where you can't take it anymore.

• 10:08Ed Mylett?

  Hmm.

• 10:08Codie Sanchez?

  A lot of pain in the business. And what do you do in that point? You throw the baby out with the bathwater, right? And so there's still, there is bathwater. It's hot. You don't want to sit in it anymore. But there's also kind of something precious in there. And this happens all the time with businesses. And so the idea is, how do you connect those bathwater owners with potential bathwater sellers? And I haven't figured that out yet, except talking about it.

• 10:31Ed Mylett?

  Hmm.

• 10:31Codie Sanchez?

  We're going to work on that. But, um.

• 10:33Ed Mylett?

  Business.

• 10:34Codie Sanchez?

  Yeah, they're all around. And so, for instance, I like, you know, there's this one, actually, I've never told this one. It's a very particular story. There was a company called Strikefire Productions. And it was a small podcast production company, like what would might produce yours if we weren't in your own studio, right? Somebody's got to shoot it. Somebody's got to edit it. Somebody's got to upload it. You know, I use one of these for my podcast.

• 10:55Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 10:55Codie Sanchez?

  And.

• 10:56Ed Mylett?

  We used to, too, yeah.

• 10:57Codie Sanchez?

  Yeah. And so, anyway, so I pay them, I don't know, let's call it five K a month. And that's what I used to pay back in the day when one of our portfolio companies had a podcast. And this guy Jonathan, who ran it, was operationally great. He loved all the particulars of it. And I remember one day he looked kind of stressed and I was like, Jonathan, what's going on, man? How you doing? He's like, ah, I hate sales. I hate selling these people. I hate falling up with them so much. I'm like, hmm, do you need more sales? You have more capacity, but you need more sales? He's like, yes, I do. I'm like, perfect. Uh, why don't you let me earn in to like 49% of the company? Just through me bringing you referrals. And if I bring you enough referrals to cover double the revenue of what you have right now, you basically give me 49% of the company, but you make double what you're making right now. And he was like, that sounds great.

• 11:42Codie Sanchez?

  And then I took the company and I, in that instance, you wouldn't even have to do it. I think I gave him 10K, like just as like a, hey, I'm, I'm here. I'm in it with you. It was a small company making a couple hundred K. So we doubled the company. And then I just cash flows flowed off of it because it's recurring revenue.

• 11:57Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 11:58Codie Sanchez?

  So that exists all around.

• 11:59Ed Mylett?

  It does. See, this is why it's a unique podcast today because, you know, a lot of times you get this now too, because of your brand and what you know and your connections, your relationships, you and I get offered to get equity in companies we don't have to give capital to because we bring a value add, the value add. And I wish somebody would have whispered to me when I was younger and said, you know, you have value adds as well, younger, get equity for that value add as opposed to just compensation. Not enough of you are thinking right now about the thing you could bring to a small business that could let you get equity. Maybe you don't end up with all of it. Maybe you end up with 49% of it or 25% of it. But I now to the point, even athletes that I work with, you were talking, you and I were talking about some of the athletes that I work with.

• 12:41Ed Mylett?

  And the principle overall that I want to get across before we keep shifting today is you need to start to think like owners, everybody and equity and things and not just being paid for services. This is the shift that I think you could bring to the world that you've started to bring. But overall, more ownership, more equity for the value you bring everyone. So like a lot of the athletes I work with, they'll get an endorsement with Monster Energy or so and so, or a tequila company. And I've told the, the right ones early, I said, listen, take less cash from them and ask for a piece of it because if these things hit, you're wealthy. End up with a portfolio of a few of these things. All you need is one of them to happen. And not enough of you that are in midlife, that have skills and talents,

• 13:23Ed Mylett?

  or young people that have something you've graduated with, look for equity for the value that you bring. Now, in terms of the type of businesses, I like this, like, she has all these sayings that you remember, right? So tell them what the sexy boring matrix means. This is really, really good.

• 13:39Codie Sanchez?

  Yeah, well, it's, it's essentially, if you think about it, it's a, it's a graph where on the left-hand side of the graph, you have what I call boring businesses. How do I define a boring business? A boring business has no mode around it, no, no particular technology, no words proprietary. It's things like landscaping, roofing, etc. On the right-hand side, you have sexy businesses, right? This might be like SaaS companies, or I want to be a celebrity, right? There's the things that actually, if you look at the average income in a sexy industry, it's about two-thirds less than a boring industry. So like, the average income, for instance, I'm sorry, median, not

• 14:18Codie Sanchez?

  average, the median income in a sexy business, AKA, marketing for Hollywood celebrities, is like $37,000 a year. And the median income for a welder is like $78,000 per year, right? And then on the upper hand, you're looking at the return of not just a salary, but the total valuation you can get in the industry. And so, the long story short is, the sexier the business, the less money you make on average. Yeah. The more boring the business, the more money you make on average. And so, you know, when I was looking at things to do.

• 14:52Ed Mylett?

  So good.

• 14:53Codie Sanchez?

  Yeah, like, I think you can have sexy surrounding boring, right? People consider what we're doing right now sexy. Right? Cool. You get on stages, you do that, that's sexy. Yeah, but that's not where most of our wealth is made. Most of our wealthy, wealth is made from taking those ideas and applying them to boring businesses.

• 15:11Ed Mylett?

  I'm looking right now, I should be careful, this will probably come out after I've decided, but I'm looking right now at acquiring a plumbing company.

• 15:17Codie Sanchez?

  Oh, yeah. Well, I'm here for you. Tell me. I hope it's a big one.

• 15:20Ed Mylett?

  It is relatively big. And where I got the idea from was, this is interesting, I was talking to somebody at a restaurant, we just, they followed my content, went up talking, this guy's like, he changed my life. I was in the construction business, I was a roofer, which made me think about what you were saying. I was a roofer. And I started following your stuff, ended up acquiring a plumbing company. I said, wow, you don't have any background in plumbing?

• 15:40Codie Sanchez?

  Yeah.

• 15:41Ed Mylett?

  He said, no, but I do in construction. So I sort of affiliated knowledge. And I think that's important when we're talking today, that you don't think too linear, everybody, that you have to have a specific background in a business. I do think, don't you think some correlated knowledge, though, like this guy was in construction? He knows about subs. He knows about contractors. He's got a general understanding of plumbing.

• 16:01Codie Sanchez?

  Yeah.

• 16:01Ed Mylett?

  But he's not a plumber by trade. So what about that? Like if you give someone counsel about the lane they should go in. Should they have some sort of correlated background or knowledge, do you think? Or that doesn't matter at all? If the business cash flows and you know how to run a business, who cares what industry it's in?

• 16:18Codie Sanchez?

  Well, I would take grit and competency in continuing past the point of comfort over just about anything, because I think most businesses are a widget business. So like every single business has marketing, you know, sales, product, finance, admin, operations.

• 16:36Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 16:37Codie Sanchez?

  Every single business. Now, I run, I run some HVAC businesses. I have a franchise, you know, business. Do I actually know how to do the painting? Do I know how to do the fixing of, of air conditioners? Like absolutely not. But I do have a core competency to be able to find humans who can solve problems for me.

• 16:58Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 16:58Codie Sanchez?

  So, so I guess, is it easier if I was going to acquire a plumbing company? If I knew plumbing, maybe. But I think the core thing might be, do you actually understand like the six main competencies of business?

• 17:10Ed Mylett?

  Which are?

• 17:10Codie Sanchez?

  That is the finance, sales, marketing, admin, operations, and product. And if you understand those, then I think you could apply that to almost any business. Plus, like a willingness to do it past the point of, of comfort.

• 17:25Ed Mylett?

  So, hey, guys, as you know, I've partnered up with my good friend Brennan Burchard, who's created the greatest personal development system that has ever been designed called Growth Day. There's everything from journaling to accountability programs, live messages every Monday from myself and other influencers. There's an opportunity for you to get courses that would cost thousands of dollars completely for free. It's incredible. Go to growthday.com/ed and check it out.

• 17:50Ed Mylett?

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• 18:33Ed Mylett?

  Go to ro.co/mylet to see if you qualify. That's R-O dot C-O slash my let to get started on Ro. For side effects of GLP-1 medications, including boxed warning, go to ro.co/safety. R-O dot C-O slash safety. So when I ended up buying the island, we had to do all of our outdoor decorating, and I spent a fortune in the first half of the place. And I'm like, I don't want to do this anymore, but I want the best stuff. And that's where Wayfair came in. My wife wanted to get this new garden bed, and Wayfair was the place that offered the perfect solution. Wayfair also helps you create a home that stands up to real life with quality products, great value, and trusted reviews. Wayfair verified products are hand-vetted by product specialists. They use a 10-point quality inspection system. Here's all I can tell you. The stuff has lasted over time.

• 19:18Ed Mylett?

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• 19:51Speaker 03

  Wayfair, every style, every home.

• 19:55Ed Mylett?

  Well, that's let's go there because you're going where I wanted to go. So theoretical business sounds really, really good. Day to day business, if we're really being candid, we sort of share. I'll call it like a misery amongst company almost to some extent, like when you meet another real business owner. I think, I think the stuff online is really good or kind of, you know, you hear certain conversations. But most of my conversations with real operators or real business owners is most of the time dealing with the emotional burden of the stress of it. And I don't think that part of it's, Andy and I talk about that a lot, Frisella and I. What about that? Like the real of business, like how much of it day to day, even today, the last week for you?

• 20:40Ed Mylett?

  It's like, woo, this is bliss and joy and we're making deals and I'm closing and I'm a deal maker and we're growing and top line's awesome and the bottom line's good too. Or like, what is it really like? Like really, really?

• 20:51Codie Sanchez?

  Yeah, well, I think, you know, there was a line from Michael Jordan that I loved where he said, there is no I in team, but there is in win. And that always resonates with me because when you are in charge of a business, when it's yours, there is an I in team because the only person at the end of the day that is on the line is you. And so you have to work harder than everybody else. You have to work longer than everybody else for a period past what you want to, at least in the beginning. At some point you get people that are more competent than you, but that really takes, that takes a long time.

• 21:22Ed Mylett?

  Long time.

• 21:23Codie Sanchez?

  And so I do think, you know, that there will be a point in every business owner's life where you're like, what am I doing with my life? And would you like to hire me, Ed? You know, for sure. And if you want to know if this is true or not, go talk to a business owner. And if you want to cuddle up to them pretty quickly, say, you know, I'm running a business right now, but it's, it's definitely hard. There are days when I might ask you for a job. How about you? And I guarantee you, no matter if they're a billionaire or not, they're going to say, oh yeah, I thought about that before. Never seriously. But that little twinkle. And so

• 21:53Ed Mylett?

  And that's, by the way, why most businesses are buyable. Cause you catch an entrepreneur on the right day.

• 21:58Codie Sanchez?

  Right.

• 21:58Ed Mylett?

  Or the wrong day.

• 22:00Codie Sanchez?

  Right.

• 22:00Ed Mylett?

  They may want to take an exit from it. I just, I always want people, like, I'll ask you this, like, who do you think should be an entrepreneur? Like, if you were to describe the woman or the man that should be an entrepreneur, there's certain characteristics that are invisible.

• 22:15Codie Sanchez?

  Yeah.

• 22:15Ed Mylett?

  They're not visible to people typically. What are some of those things? Like, for the real, real thing, what is it? Because, by the way, one thing about you that I've noticed, I don't think it's talked about enough. And because then people think, well, then I can't do it. You're a very smart woman. You're very well read. So I'm not naturally intellectually bright. I'm not. But, but I'm overcompensator for that with really being well read. I read a lot. I've updated my knowledge base about a lot of different things so that I can have conversations and dialogue with people that do a lot of different things so that I'm valuable to them. And that's one trait. You have to have grit and resilience. Okay. Yep, you do. I think that's been covered.

• 22:54Codie Sanchez?

  Yes.

• 22:54Ed Mylett?

  What about like, knowledge? Like, real knowledge about business? Like, I, I surround myself with attorneys and accountants, boring people, because I learn a lot from them and you're going to need them as an entrepreneur. So what are your thoughts on all that?

• 23:08Codie Sanchez?

  Well, that one, you know, for sure. I think if you want to make money, surround yourself with the people who understand money. And people who understand money are attorneys, accountants, bankers, investment bankers, people who understand real estate, like financial and, and financial advisors. Those are the people. If you hang out with enough of them, it's wild how contagious money can be.

• 23:28Ed Mylett?

  True.

• 23:30Codie Sanchez?

  I do think, though, that you're right on the well-read part. You know, I was at a friend's ranch this weekend. Her name's Wink. And, and Wink. She's, she's 85. She runs a ranch that is 30,000 acres. Some of it is government leased land in Arizona. And she had this line that was so incredible to me. I was talking to her. I'm like, Wink, you're like 85. You're on this horse. You're running this land. You know, what, what's going on? And, and I was talking about, you know, the fact that business was tough. And she goes, well, You know, at some point, you know, you just, it's that bootstrapping thing, right? And I'm like, oh yeah, it's that bootstrapping thing. And she goes, but you know, we have a saying, because wolves are a problem here where they are. They eat their cows. She's like, we got a saying about wolves.

• 24:14Codie Sanchez?

  And I'm like, uh, well, you're not allowed to shoot wolves. Wink, like, what do you mean you got a saying about wolves? And she goes, well, yeah, we know you're not allowed to shoot wolves. So we got the three S's. And I said, what are these three S's? And she goes, well, you shoot, you shovel, and you shut up.

• 24:31Codie Sanchez?

  And she goes, and that's business. You shoot, you shovel, all the bullshit, all the nonsense, all the difficulty, and you shut up and you keep going. And, uh, so sometimes I remember those three S's. And I think real business owners know that that's there. The last thing I'll say, though, is I think too many people tell other people that they can't be entrepreneurs. And that actually bothers me because there are a bunch of people online like, Cody must be nice for you and Ed, you know, must. And like, you know, all these people aren't actually doing it. And I think, show me somebody who tells you that you shouldn't go become an entrepreneur. Cause it's too hard for you. Fine, but watch what they do, not what they say. Are they an entrepreneur, but they think you can't do it?

• 25:14Codie Sanchez?

  And I think for most people, there is an ability to have some ownership. It does just suck sometimes and you gotta deal with that.

• 25:21Ed Mylett?

  I do too. I, I, um, I'm amazed by how many people will take advice from somebody who's not successful in the area you're seeking the advice.

• 25:29Codie Sanchez?

  Right.

• 25:29Ed Mylett?

  Meaning, it doesn't mean they're a bad person or that they're unsuccessful. They may be an incredible father or mother, but they're not an entrepreneur. They shouldn't be giving you advice on that. Or they're like an amazing person of faith, but they've never made any money. Why are you taking money advice from them? Or vice versa.

• 25:45Codie Sanchez?

  Yeah.

• 25:45Ed Mylett?

  Taking faith advice from someone who's got no faith, just because they have a bunch of money. So I think the, the area, I think it'd be very rare. At least in my opinion, like I think most people can be an entrepreneur on some level. If they find the lane they want to be in.

• 25:58Codie Sanchez?

  Yeah.

• 25:58Ed Mylett?

  Do you think part of it is, maybe you don't, because I think you look at these businesses as these kind of objects. The E-Myth, Michael Gerber has this great line in the E-Myth. You read the E-Myth before? Where he says, picture your business as if it's a product sitting on a shelf by itself. That's almost the way I look at your approach to things. Like, these are different products that you can acquire. Do you think that you, is there one particular characteristic, though, that you go, that's the thing for an entrepreneur? They gotta have that, or chances are they're gonna lose.

• 26:27Codie Sanchez?

  Yeah, well, I think the high-level entrepreneurs, they have one thing. And that's, if you go to hire them,

• 26:36Codie Sanchez?

  for instance, we started a company called BizScout. And I bought, I bought the company, I'm scaling it. We put a bunch of money into it, we raised some money for it. And I had to go find a CEO for this company. And I interviewed all these people. And the thing that always tells me if the person is going to be an entrepreneur eventually, is will somebody follow you? And so, when I interviewed him, he was great, said all the right things, former athlete, kinda check, check, check, check. I like former high-performing athletes. I like people who've been sales and marketing before, because they've eaten a lot of shit. I like people that have led technical teams and done sales and marketing, because it means they can do both sides of the business. He had all of that. But when I said, hey Bobby, you know, I don't know how much money we're gonna have in order to run this thing to start.

• 27:19Codie Sanchez?

  So I don't know if we're gonna be able to bring all your people, so I'm negative framing. I don't know if we're gonna be able to bring all your people. Like, what people would you absolutely need to bring? You know, or not? So I'm not doing a leading question like, well, who would you bring along with you? Which if they're smart at all, they're gonna go, oh yeah, I got a few people. I'm negative framing, saying, maybe you can bring nobody. And he's like, we have to bring Danielle, she'll follow me anyway. We have to bring this guy and this guy. I'll take a salary decrease. And I go, oh, that guy's gonna win. Because other people who already have worked with him will follow him.

• 27:47Ed Mylett?

  Very good.

• 27:48Codie Sanchez?

  And so I think that's, like, can you lead people? Will they follow you? And if so, I think you might be able to be a high-level entrepreneur.

• 27:55Ed Mylett?

  That's really good. What about fatigue? Do you suffer with that? And if you do, I'm talking about... For me, it is more mental than physical most of the time. Do you suffer from that? And is there anything you do to recharge or ward it off before it hits you?

• 28:16Codie Sanchez?

  Yeah, I don't get tired so much. I can work a lot and very late. I get mad and annoyed at how much I'm getting mad about something and that can fatigue me a little bit. It's almost like emotional annoyance fatigue. And, and he's gonna hate that I say this, but I've kind of become friends with, with Tim Grover. And so I just hope he never watches this, but

• 28:43Codie Sanchez?

  but I listen to Winning and Relentless. Like I go back.

• 28:47Ed Mylett?

  Why would you not want him to know that?

• 28:48Codie Sanchez?

  Because I think winners shouldn't have to listen to that shit, actually. And I think that's what he's gonna tell me. He's gonna be like, become so hard, you don't have to listen to my shit anymore. And I'd say, yeah, Tim, you're right. But I listen to it because if the greats struggled, then it's totally normal to struggle. And what's not normal is to spectate I wouldn't struggle if all of these others did too. And so, you know, there was, I remember one of our best managers at one of the other companies that I had. You know, he said, he was struggling, he was fatiguing, the team wasn't doing what he wanted them to do. And he said, listen, you know, some people just, some people hope that things happen. Some people wish that things happen and some people, some very few people actually make it happen.

• 29:33Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 29:34Codie Sanchez?

  And he's like, you have to fill a team with more make it happeners.

• 29:38Ed Mylett?

  Those are the special people. They will things to happen. That's exactly right. There are just certain people that when you get around them, you have a sense, my life's gonna change. We're gonna win. Everything's gonna be okay. I can actually picture the very handful of people in my entire career. Maybe it's two hands where they will things to happen like legitimately, I'm talking about leaders of businesses I've been in. I know what you're referring to as people in your team.

• 30:00Codie Sanchez?

  Yeah.

• 30:00Ed Mylett?

  That can make things happen. You give them something, they run. It's even better than you think.

• 30:04Codie Sanchez?

  Yeah.

• 30:04Ed Mylett?

  But I, you're a million percent right. There are just certain people that will things to happen. Do you, where should someone be looking to buy a business? Is there places?

• 30:12Codie Sanchez?

  Yeah.

• 30:13Ed Mylett?

  That they should go, like if someone's listening, they go, okay, I'm, wasn't interested at all. Now I'm gonna start looking. Where would they look?

• 30:19Codie Sanchez?

  Yeah. Well, the two things. One, we're launching something, so stay tuned. I'll have to tell you about it, but this, this is my billion dollar bet. We'll see what happens. And the, but the, there's so many places now. There's Biz by Sell, there's LoopNet, there's Flippa, there's E-Commerce Flippers.

• 30:37Codie Sanchez?

  Online sites for buying businesses are sort of like going into Ikea without a grocery, without a list, right? You're just like, whoa, there's a lot of stuff in here and a lot of is trash.

• 30:47Ed Mylett?

  Right.

• 30:48Codie Sanchez?

  And it turns out the second that you buy the thing, you realize that you also bought a secondary job because you ever tried to put anything together from Ikea. It's a nightmare. And so, um, so we're trying to figure out how to make that a little bit easier. I think the real way to buy businesses right now, though, is what I call your center of influence or your personal P and L review, which is probably how you've bought them before.

• 31:08Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 31:08Codie Sanchez?

  You're like, huh, I have a big expense at this business. Plus I'm driving these people millions or hundreds of thousands, or if you're smaller, thousands of dollars a year or month. What if I just like asked to acquire part of that business? Or what if I acquired that business and turned that cost center into a profit center?

• 31:25Ed Mylett?

  Is there a lane you'd avoid? Are there, are there businesses you just, this is just not a lane I'd go into? And is there one or two where you're like, you should be looking there?

• 31:33Codie Sanchez?

  There are many businesses I hate. Couple of businesses I hate off the top of my head. Restaurants.

• 31:38Ed Mylett?

  Me too.

• 31:38Codie Sanchez?

  Huge failure rate. Yeah. Terrible. Uh, I mean, have you guys ever been employed by a restaurant? Remember what an idiot you were? I was an idiot when I worked at a restaurant.

• 31:45Ed Mylett?

  Whole enchilada.

• 31:46Codie Sanchez?

  Yeah. Not, not great. Uh, hotels. 24/7 service, really hard to do. I would invest in an entity that invested in a ton of hotels, never just one individual hotel. It's also real estate masquerading as a business. Third, or like drop shipping, Amazon, FBA, anything a 22 year old is trying to sell you online, I stay out of those. And that's because at the drop of a hat, Bezos can compete with you. They have all your data and so does China, probably. And so I don't want to have to compete with a bunch of dupe knockoffs. Uh, number four, for me in particular, I don't buy anything that has a single point of failure in a person. So oftentimes consulting businesses, really tough

• 32:26Codie Sanchez?

  to buy. And then probably the last type of business that I wouldn't buy overall is I don't like businesses that have, um, I don't like businesses that have platform risk, not dissimilar to Amazon FBA, but if you sell only on Instagram, if you sell only through some third party site like Shopify, like I'm really careful about that. Now, don't get me wrong. People have made billions on this and like the Hyatt and Hilton family and all of that would laugh me out of the room.

• 32:56Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 32:56Codie Sanchez?

  Right. But it's just harder for the average person.

• 32:59Ed Mylett?

  That's, this is such a good interview. I mean, this is stuff, I don't know, we've never covered 99% of this on the show before. The other thing is you talk a lot about, this is just so good. I want to keep going through your brain. You talk a lot about setting, goals are okay, but you want people to set what instead?

• 33:14Codie Sanchez?

  Sacrifices. Tell me, don't tell me what you want. Tell me what you're willing to do to get it. And that's something I hold myself to as well. Just, I don't write goal lists. I literally, my husband and I, we do it quarterly and annually is the big one where we basically sit down and then we say, here's all the things we want. What are all the things we're gonna have to give up to get it? And so, you know, this quarter, we had a, we had one business with a lot of issues in it. And so we had a big plan that every year we go to Bonnaroo, which is where we met and where I got engaged. And I was like, this year, I'm like, babe, nope, we're not doing it. Now, could I go to, of course, can I afford it? Can I have the time? And I said, no, we're sacrificing this because I do think that the universe likes signals. And when you say, I'm serious, I'm going to fix this

• 33:58Codie Sanchez?

  and I am focused on it as opposed to, you know, a beautiful set of distractions, um, things change.

• 34:06Ed Mylett?

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• 34:51Ed Mylett?

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• 35:34Ed Mylett?

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• 36:08Ed Mylett?

  Also distraction is, by the way, I'm the same way.

• 36:10Codie Sanchez?

  Yeah.

• 36:11Ed Mylett?

  One thing about entrepreneurs that does surprise me, and I don't mean to sound joyless in doing it. I'm amazed by how many vacations they take compared to the ones that I know.

• 36:19Codie Sanchez?

  Yeah.

• 36:19Ed Mylett?

  In other words, the ones that I know, that you and I both know mutually. I vacation, but it's hard to get me to do it. And I feel like I just don't like leaving for too long because I lose momentum. I certainly haven't taken a lot of long vacations in my life. I like two or three type day ones, just because I just that the distance and the momentum or whatever it is, and maybe you go, well, that's because you haven't hired great people around you. Potentially that's true, but I'm amazed by the long breaks I see so many successful entrepreneurs taking. I'm like, I don't know many personally that are that successful that are on vacation every other month. Now, I know a lot of people listen to go, that's because you haven't figured it out, man. You could have systems, you could have people in place. I got systems, I got people in place. I'm also a business owner and I know what that's like. I'm just curious.

• 37:04Ed Mylett?

  And by the way, completely feel free to disagree with me on that if you disagree. But what are your thoughts on that?

• 37:09Codie Sanchez?

  I think it's, you know, everything is about what you want out of life. And a lot of people are okay with, not that a lot of people are okay, a lot of people are thrilled with hanging out at every softball game with the kids, like my dad did, which is incredible, in being around family and in not being a billionaire, like.

• 37:26Ed Mylett?

  Totally agree with that.

• 37:27Codie Sanchez?

  Which is beautiful.

• 37:28Ed Mylett?

  Absolutely.

• 37:29Codie Sanchez?

  I'm on board for it. I am a psychopath that wants to be a multi, multi billionaire. Why? I'm not really sure. I think it's fun right now. Maybe at some point I'll change that. And it's not really for ego. I don't really buy anything fancy. I'm not like, I have a nice watch, I kind of like clothes, but I just like the game. I like the game. And so I think for those people, how I see them is like, okay, you're just, you're at this level, like you want to stay a level four? That's awesome. But now I know you're a level four entrepreneur.

• 37:56Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 37:56Codie Sanchez?

  And I don't partner with level four entrepreneurs. I help level four entrepreneurs. I support you. I, I, you know, I hope you find joy and help in the things that we do, but I don't partner with you. And every time I've broken that rule and haven't dug deep enough, it's where I fucked up and I've gotten into a bad partnership.

• 38:12Ed Mylett?

  Yeah. You know, I want to make sure that my audience knows, I completely agree with that, by the way. And I, and I, I've changed as I've gotten older, I'm probably less that intense person in the sense that I am now more appreciative of the time and I have such admiration for people who, whatever it is you want in your life, you get that. To me, a happy life is show me your, kind of your blueprint for your life. And if you're living it, you're successful, whatever that is. And as I've gotten older, my blueprint has changed where I want more time. I want more of those other things.

• 38:47Codie Sanchez?

  I think your audience knows that.

• 38:49Ed Mylett?

  I hope so. I want to make sure that I'm clear on that. Having said that, a lot of you that are early stage entrepreneurs, which is what I meant earlier, taking off as the, trying to get the plane off the ground is, you know, it takes a lot of force to get it in the air. Once it's in the air, it's much easier to be at a cruising altitude to some extent, but I just see so many that I think they think it's at cruising altitude and it's still in the liftoff phase. I guess is the best way to say it. And it's like, man, you're letting off the accelerator an awful lot in the takeoff phase. Whereas you got to be careful because that's what you see on social media. It looks like everyone's in Barbados, everyone's in Cannes, you know, everyone's in St. Bart's. That's not where I was when this thing was in the liftoff phase. And the truth is, I'm not even there now, most of the time. One little hack, because you're here today, for those of you like,

• 39:33Ed Mylett?

  yeah, but I want to have a great life. I would say to you, and I know this is contrary to what they say online, but like, at some point, have a home that feels like you're on vacation when you're an entrepreneur. So that like, where my homes are, where I feel like I'm living on vacation, so that I don't have to go somewhere all the time. So I kind of like live on vacation and yet work on that vacation all the time. That's sort of the medium place for those of you that want to live a dream, anyway.

• 39:58Codie Sanchez?

  Actually, it's brilliant because we do the same thing. We'll go for, you know, we have a place in another state and we go and stay there for like two or three months, but I got everything set up. It's no different from my office and my other place. And I think that's really, really powerful. And so there's a power of place, there's a power of routine. And I think as often as you can stay inside of that is your. Higher likelihood to succeed. But I also think it's, I mean, people don't really need more people telling them that you're okay, you're perfect the way you are, you don't need to change anything, you can go slower. There's enough of that online.

• 40:30Ed Mylett?

  You think so?

• 40:30Codie Sanchez?

  Yeah, I think like go on Instagram and have people tell you that working's bad, capitalism's awful, money's bad, and you don't need to work that hard to achieve what you want. And universal basic income is around the corner. I think there's plenty of that. I think actually more people need, hey, it sucks, it's worth it, it's not going to be easy. But then, after you have achieved what you wanted out of life, other people can assert their will as easily on you.

• 40:53Ed Mylett?

  That's a fact. It's interesting. I've had this philosophical discussion because I wasn't, I was at most games, but I wasn't the dad who coached the teams. And there was a part of me as I was coming up and even in line when, you know, I wish I had done that. Ironically, I'm now at this age now where the guys who coached the teams, they are grateful they did it, but there's a part of them that's like, now I'm 55 and I'm scared because I'm not financially equipped. I am at risk. I can't care for my parents like they need right now and my family. And so, you have to be careful with those choices that you make all the time. And it is great to applaud the person who's there all the time, and that's a great life.

• 41:32Ed Mylett?

  Every sacrifice has a choice. To go back to the sacrifice thing, don't you think it's important, what you said, I want to just build off of it and have you elaborate on it? I think you need to decide that sacrifice thing in advance. I think what most entrepreneurs do, or just humans, they don't negotiate the price tag in advance. And then while they're going through the effort of doing it, they're expanding, expending all this energy on the internal negotiation. Is it worth it? Oh, my gosh, it's costing me this. I didn't know it was going to be that. I think there's brilliance in what you said about on the front end, deciding as a family, as a couple, or as an individual, this is the price I'm willing to pay so that you don't spend all this mental gymnastics negotiating it constantly.

• 42:14Codie Sanchez?

  It's actually, I love that line. You should negotiate the price tag. Of your sacrifice ahead of time. Brilliant. I learned this from my husband in a lot of ways. He is former military, ex Navy SEAL. And so watching him is really interesting because he's so regimented on so many things. Because he understands that the most important thing you do as a Navy SEAL is not shoot or, you know, fight people. It's you make decisions. Your most important weapon is your brain and your ability for that to not fatigue. And so decision fatigue is the biggest enemy in warfare. It's I have to make so many rapid decisions. That I need to have a lot of capacity for the important ones and the understanding of when it is important and when is it not? And so what does he do?

• 42:57Codie Sanchez?

  He just doesn't negotiate normalcy. So every single day he gets up, he eats the same thing. He does his workout the same way every single day. Workouts are a habit. They are not an option. And as many times as possible, he makes the normal things habitual. And then he gets to have lots of fun and spontaneity around it, but he doesn't allow for decision fatigue. And so I've learned a lot from him on that.

• 43:22Ed Mylett?

  What I've learned from you is a lot about the market. Particularly like understanding the trends, like you talk a lot lately about kind of the baby boomer. So there's this big wealth transition with them as well. But there's a career transition. There's a there's a knee. You trend, you look at business, I've found like you look at the explosion of Harley Davidson, for example, when it exploded. Why? All these baby boomers wanted that kind of wild lifestyle. You look at the explosion of fast food. Or diapers. They were all having babies at that time. Then their kids needed to have fast food. So if you trend this group of people, even though there's these other markets. But kind of booming industries follow these folks. So what are your thoughts about that generation in terms of looking at businesses or any of the other generations?

• 44:06Ed Mylett?

  And is that a, is that something you look at?

• 44:08Codie Sanchez?

  Oh, yeah. I mean, it's.

• 44:12Codie Sanchez?

  The wealth transfer that we're happening right now is something that I have never seen numerically before.

• 44:16Ed Mylett?

  Never happened before.

• 44:17Codie Sanchez?

  Yeah. The only time we have seen such a massive shift in wealth was one we couldn't predict, which was the Industrial Revolution. We couldn't actually predict what that was mean because we were creating it. What's the difference between then and now? Well, now we can predict what that wealth is worth because it exists. Here's the problem. There's something like $68 trillion worth of wealth to be transferred. And yet of that 60-plus trillion dollars, we think, well, what does that mean? Grandma's gonna pass me down some cash. Uh-uh. Because the assets are actually sitting inside of businesses. And so the wealth transfer, they'll only be about somewhere from, numbers vary, 5% to 10% of the wealth will transfer down to most people. 5% to 10%. The rest of it eviscerates.

• 45:02Codie Sanchez?

  And why? Because people are living longer, because people are rolling down their businesses, not passing the business forward, because people are reverse mortgaging into their houses in order to

• 45:12Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 45:12Codie Sanchez?

  deal with the fact that it, that the cost of living for getting older is increasing and their savings haven't increased. The average business owner has 90% of their wealth tied up in their business.

• 45:24Ed Mylett?

  You know, you're right. Keep going. That's

• 45:25Codie Sanchez?

  In their business. So what does that mean? That means, and the numbers track, right? 90% of wealth in the business, 5% to 10% of the wealth gets transferred outside of the business. So if we don't transfer the 90% by buying these businesses, it eviscerates. Totally different than the Industrial Revolution, which just allowed for more innovation. And so, you know, I think that it is the most important time ever to learn to become a dealmaker in some way, shape, or form, because when else are you gonna have this sort of waterfall cascade effect? Not easy, but numerically, very likely.

• 45:59Ed Mylett?

  Oh, my gosh. You know, of all the discussions I've had on that wealth transfer, I've never heard that statistic of the 5% or 10%.

• 46:05Codie Sanchez?

  I'll send you the link afterwards.

• 46:07Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, and I never even thought about the fact that how much of their wealth is tied up in the businesses, because that's totally true.

• 46:14Codie Sanchez?

  Yeah.

• 46:14Ed Mylett?

  Wow. You said something about innovation earlier. I'm curious. It's such a wide-ranging, cool conversation. But what are your thoughts about AI? And what's gonna happen to all of us because of it or with it or nothing?

• 46:25Codie Sanchez?

  Well, what's interesting is my husband runs, co-runs the Defense Innovation Units, which is a part of the Department of Defense's commercial AI portfolio, which basically means that he looks at how all of the AI companies that exist could apply to the defense of the United States. And so he's ran, you know, two AI companies, has another one right now called Nomadic, that helps determine where refugee and homeless encampments are in order to properly track them.

• 46:54Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 46:54Codie Sanchez?

  And so when it comes to AI, I always usually revert to him because I know a lot about automats and car washes and nothing about robots. But one thing I do find fascinating about AI is look what it's done, which makes all the sense in the world. It has capitalized on non-government entrenched, non-super lobbyist intensive, non-regulated industries first. Why? Is that because AI is better off drawing and writing than doing anything else? No, it's because the attorneys and the financiers are going to fight AI coming in and taking away their jobs first, right? But who's not? The fucking artists.

• 47:36Codie Sanchez?

  And so they've, you know, so what I see that, what I see is we need to change the way that we think about labor. We thought the robots would take over plumbing, and in fact, that's very hard to do. They're gonna take over copywriting because all that is is data analysis. And so I think that boring businesses actually have an even bigger place when it comes to AI, because it's very hard to create real-life hardware robots to re-roof your house. It's not hard to write a great tweet.

• 48:06Ed Mylett?

  Wow, wow. What do you, okay, wow, okay, I'm processing that because that is exactly how it's happened.

• 48:12Codie Sanchez?

  Yeah.

• 48:13Ed Mylett?

  It also gives you kind of a point of direction of where to go in terms of businesses you would acquire. I'm gonna ask you certain demos, just advice you would give. What advice would you give to a 25 year old right now or your 25 year old self? Just overall business life advice? We're gonna, I'm gonna go through three or four demos with you.

• 48:30Codie Sanchez?

  Yeah. One would be, I think success is contagious. So you want to get around people whose dream day is your Tuesday. So because then it's just more likely that you will succeed if you are around other people who succeed, which is there's all these studies that show if you hang around other people who are fat, you have a higher likelihood to be fat. If you hang around with other people who have a six pack, you have a higher likelihood to get a six pack, which is wild. And that's just because behavior is habitual and humans learn from mimicry or imitation. And so, um, so I think the most important thing you could do is that old, you know, you are the average of the people, five people you surround yourself with from, I think that's Jim Rohn, right?

• 49:09Ed Mylett?

  I think so too.

• 49:10Codie Sanchez?

  So I would say first it's Cody, stop getting in the wrong rooms. Like get into a room like Areté. Get into a room with other people who are winning. That's one. The easiest thing to change in life, I always think you have a who issue, not a how issue. I rarely know the how. I often can find the right who to solve my problems. That's easy to say, really hard to do. Nobody takes that advice. And then the second thing I would say is I want to learn. I'm obsessed with freedom. I just don't like to be told what to do. I'm like unemployable, you know? I don't, I don't want to have to do something I don't want to have to do. And, um, and so how do you protect yourself best against other people's pushback? In this world, it's money.

• 49:53Codie Sanchez?

  Money allows you to have more freedom and more optionality. So if I like freedom and I don't like to be told what to do, I want to figure out, how could I have more money? Because money is just optionality. And so if that's me, I think that if you want more money, you better understand money. How do you understand money? You go and learn investing, you learn deal making, you learn finance, because unless you can speak the language of money, she's not going to talk to you. And so that's what I would obsess on, even though young Cody was told, you know, that I was terrible at math and that, you know,

• 50:27Codie Sanchez?

  my, my math professor at the time, God, I can still picture his face. I remember him in high school saying that I would have, Helen Keller would have a better shot at winning an archery contest than I would. Killing into finance, which is, I hope he's watching.

• 50:41Ed Mylett?

  That's awesome.

• 50:42Codie Sanchez?

  And he wasn't wrong. I'm not great at it, but I just wanted to understand it.

• 50:49Speaker 01

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• 51:19Ed Mylett?

  Eighteen year old, should they go to college? So they go work for somebody? Should they start a business? I know.

• 51:25Codie Sanchez?

  I don't think you should start a business at 18 typically. Like you can barely handle like normal decisions like, you know, should I drink and drive? At least if you're anything like me. So I probably wouldn't start a business immediately. But man, college is fun, but I'm not sure the ROI is there anymore. I think if you want to go learn business, the best business school is business. So go and work for other people if you are willing to do the gritty, hard, impossible thing of entrepreneurship. It's still true in our society that people are looked down upon by not having a college degree. And the more prestigious your college degree, the more educated people think you are. So if you can get into Harvard or Stanford or wherever, I can see why you would still want to do that.

• 52:10Codie Sanchez?

  But in my opinion, your ROI is not going to be there as much as you're credentializing and trying to get other people to feel like you're worthy. So asking yourself that question.

• 52:20Ed Mylett?

  I think some of those, that's the hardest one. And I don't know the answer. My answer has been landing lately similarly to yours. Some of that Stanford Harvard thing, you do inherit an alumni of relationships and connections. And to your point earlier about who you know, more than the what, you are going to end up being connected at some of these really exclusive places potentially. But they become kind of a breeding ground for non-capitalistic thinking and some other things as well. So it's really a difficult.

• 52:46Codie Sanchez?

  Did you go to a fancy college?

• 52:48Ed Mylett?

  I didn't.

• 52:49Codie Sanchez?

  Went to college.

• 52:49Ed Mylett?

  I went to college. I went to play baseball, really. And I'm glad that I, in my case, to be honest with you, I don't even know where my degree is and I didn't even go to graduation. I didn't even walk. And I regret it because Maya Angelou actually gave the address and I wish I would have gone. I didn't, I didn't know it was gonna be here. Having said that though, like I've never utilized my degree, but I took an entrepreneurial path.

• 53:08Codie Sanchez?

  Yeah.

• 53:09Ed Mylett?

  You know, and, and I have two kids that are both in college and when I add up the expenses and I put that in an account for them and they did go to work for me or an entrepreneur. And then the return on that money, to your point, it's really a difficult decision. And then looking forward, the data more and more shows that there's not a gigantic income disparity, that income disparity is shrinking rather between the college graduate and the non-college graduate. So I just don't know. And your point about being young and not making decisions is a part of me that thinks that there's a breeding ground there to mature a little bit. I really don't know. It's why I asked.

• 53:41Codie Sanchez?

  Yeah.

• 53:42Ed Mylett?

  I haven't asked that many people, but I wanted to ask you.

• 53:44Codie Sanchez?

  I feel the same way.

• 53:44Ed Mylett?

  I'm conflicted about it still.

• 53:46Codie Sanchez?

  Apprenticeship is hugely underrated and if all you do is go to college, that's probably a missed opportunity. I think there's a huge opportunity to learn, have fun, socialize, let your prefrontal cortex develop.

• 53:57Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 53:58Codie Sanchez?

  And then simultaneously apprentice under somebody else. Even though, you know, I think almost you can like follow the things the government makes illegal. And that's how you know they might be good for you these days, which is like, you know, you're not allowed to have unpaid internships. And the truth of the matter is interns really aren't worth much. They're a lot of work. It's like a charity.

• 54:18Ed Mylett?

  You're right.

• 54:19Codie Sanchez?

  And so.

• 54:20Ed Mylett?

  That would be my number one advice for you just said, if you could find that Chinese proverb, if you want to know the road ahead, ask those coming back. If when you're young, you can get a close association with a very successful person, potentially in an industry you want to be in, that is so valuable to be under their mentorship. And it is a lot of work for them.

• 54:38Codie Sanchez?

  Yeah.

• 54:38Ed Mylett?

  It is a lot of work. You're exactly right. It's, it's a blessing if you get it. Okay. One more demo. Uh, I'll call it moms, but say single mom, she's, she's 30 years old today. Or maybe she's, her husband's got a job, but we'll just take mom, a couple of kids at home. And maybe potentially going, I, I want to create something.

• 54:58Ed Mylett?

  I want to control my time and my destiny and my future. I want to provide for my children in a way that potentially my current career isn't or won't. I know this is a really hard question, but they're sitting there, they're busy too, right? That mom is busy. She's got work. She's got a couple of kids. She's, she's got a social life. She's got the kids' social life and their games and their sports. At the same time, she doesn't want to wake up at 50 years old and, and, and regret not trying to do something in addition, if she so chooses to do something in addition, because that's a pretty damn full life in and of itself. But if there's a part of her listening to it going, I want something else or more, what would you say to her?

• 55:37Codie Sanchez?

  I would say, first of all, you're perfectly capable and you can do it. I think a lot of times when you get out of practice at a thing, you don't immediately think you can go back and run the marathon at the same, at the same speed that you used to.

• 55:51Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 55:52Codie Sanchez?

  And so, you know, let's be real. If you've been out of the game for a little bit and you're not working and you've been home with the kids, you got to train, which means that you're going to have to go work in a job that's probably not at the level that you want to and work harder at it than you think for a while. And that's one thing I've seen with people who get out of the workforce. I had a family member that got out of the workforce for a long time. Your world shrinks. You know, you start focusing on, on different things. You're not at the speed as everybody else at. You're not at the same tech speed that everybody else at. So that's the hard truth is it's going to be a little hard. The wild thing though, is if you apply yourself for a year, working pretty hard in a career again, I think you can turn it around. Goldman Sachs has a re-intrance program for moms who

• 56:34Codie Sanchez?

  left the workforce and want to come back. That's really good. The second thing that I would say for those working moms, so we have a, a university, like an institute where we teach people to buy small businesses and we put 3,000 people through and I'm pretty data based. So I like to analyze who succeeds, who doesn't, what happens. One trend I've noticed, women don't negotiate as well as men. Categorically, they have a harder time negotiating. A lot of times when you go to buy a business, at the end, the seller's like, oh, well, this extra thing or like, let's throw this in or I didn't realize that. Women give a lot more on those. So if I was going to tell women to go learn one skill, it would be negotiation. Go try to figure out how to negotiate more salary in the job you have right now. Go out and try to figure out how to get a higher paid job than you do right now.

• 57:19Codie Sanchez?

  And you need to get that negotiation muscle going up because you guys learn from a young age how to do it as guys. You know, you're always giving each other shit. You're kind of mean to each other. You get used to that. You get used to rejection because you're going up to women and they're telling you to pound sand. We don't have any of that as women. And so we have to build up that negotiation muscle. And that's one of the biggest weaknesses I've seen in a lot of women who go to buy businesses. So I would, I would obsess on that. And then you can be exemplar at it. You just don't have as many reps as guys do typically.

• 57:47Ed Mylett?

  Your work's so brilliant. By the way, I want to say one thing. I don't think I would be here in my case, if my mom wasn't a stay at home mom. I just want to make sure that I say that because I came from a somewhat of a dysfunctional family with my dad being an alcoholic. And so the most important thing my mother did for our family was be there for me, raise me, care for me. When I came home from school, it was my mom who got my report card. You know, so those of you that are moms that are doing that and that fulfills you, that is the most awesome thing in the world. I, I am a, I am the son of a stay at home mom. And I can tell you assuredly based on where my dad was at in my upbringing, that if my mom wasn't home, home, at least in my case, I don't think I would be where I am today.

• 58:28Ed Mylett?

  So that's one of the things that's really more difficult, as you say, for women than men is like, are, am I supposed to want more? And if I do, should I feel guilty if I want more? If I don't, am I not striving to grow and be better? And whatever it works for you and is right for you is the answer, by the way. Speaking of that.

• 58:45Codie Sanchez?

  Did she find something like, one thing I see with my generation, I'm thirty seven. I see a lot of my friends who stayed home with their kids. Now the kids are kind of grown up a little bit. They don't need them as much. And I've seen a trend where now they, they want, whether that's societally based or not, they want something that's theirs. Not necessarily work or otherwise, but did she have that?

• 59:08Ed Mylett?

  No, and by the way, I think I always wanted that for my mom after the kids were gone. Now ironically, since my dad passed away, I think she's become a much more independent person. I think that generation to some extent, maybe, um, you know, it was a very traditional relationship. You know, my dad was the man of the house. He provided. And yet my mom was the stability in a very unstable environment. I, I have three sisters and a mom. I think it's why most of my best friends in this space are. The women in the space. And I think it's because I had such a stabilizing factor with my mom in my life. We would not have had a family without my mom. And so, but no, I wished that for my mom as we had left.

• 59:51Ed Mylett?

  I, I, I was looking for that for my mom, but my mom has actually since I think found it since my dad passed away. But that was awfully late in life. Great question. And it leads to my next one. It's not, it's not really a business thing. It's just a life thing, but business is connected to it. Do you think? You travel a lot, you're around a lot, and I do too. It just dawned on me this weekend, I was flying back and I was just talking to a bunch of different people. Do you think most people are happy? And if not, why not?

• 1:00:21Codie Sanchez?

  No, and I have some unique insight into this lately because I've become friends with a guy by the name of Arthur Brooks. Do you know him?

• 1:00:26Ed Mylett?

  I do. He wrote the book with Oprah, right?

• 1:00:28Codie Sanchez?

  Yeah. Have you had him on your podcast?

• 1:00:29Ed Mylett?

  I think they were scheduled to be on and I had to reschedule.

• 1:00:31Codie Sanchez?

  Okay.

• 1:00:32Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, I should.

• 1:00:32Codie Sanchez?

  He's an incredible human.

• 1:00:34Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 1:00:35Codie Sanchez?

  He's so good and polished. You'll have to rattle him out of his polish a little bit.

• 1:00:38Ed Mylett?

  Shake him to get.

• 1:00:39Codie Sanchez?

  Yeah. Because he's been doing this for so long, but I've known him for many years through the think tank. And what's fascinating is the, the studies tell us no, but on, on average in the U S, we have two things happening to our happiness. We have what's like a climate effect, so three to 5% decrease in happiness every single year. And then we have what is called a weather pattern effect in happiness, which would be like COVID 15 percentage point drop in happiness during COVID that we have never recovered. And what's fascinating to me about that, the happiness epidemic is, you know, Arthur nails it. He talks about what drives happiness because he runs the happiness institute at Harvard. And in his 30 years of research, it's basically very simple.

• 1:01:21Codie Sanchez?

  It's faith, family, friends and work that serves. Those four things in all of his research are what he has found leads to happiness. And yet what is under attack in this country? Faith, family, friends and work that serves. People say these days, you shouldn't have to work. I hate my job. I'm quiet quitting. Okay. People have the lowest level of faith that we've seen since the founding of the country. People on average.

• 1:01:51Codie Sanchez?

  There are more than three times more people today that say that they have never had a deep conversation with another human than at any point in history, never in their whole lives. And that there's thirty percent of people that say that nobody knows them well. Not one person truly knows them. And then we have, obviously, the fact that we have people getting married later, decrease of family, and a belief that the nuclear family is actually a bad thing. And so, the good news is, it's pretty easy to fix. If you want to be happier, be a better friend, because then you'll get better friends. If you want to be happier, be better to your family, whether self-made or otherwise. If you want to be happier, believe in something, whatever your faith might be. And if you want to be happier, do work that you think is meaningful.

• 1:02:33Ed Mylett?

  Very good.

• 1:02:34Codie Sanchez?

  That's it.

• 1:02:34Ed Mylett?

  Really, really good. Yeah, I have this theory. I'll attach something to that. Just curious what you think about it. I think each soul, each human is born with a desire to express their being, express who they are. So like, we talked about my mom. In my mom's case, I believe my mom's form of expression was through her family, and serving her family, and contributing to her family. She expressed her giftedness and her nurturing that way. I think for someone like you or I, it's the expression of our being through business. For me, business is an expression of me. It's an art form and a science. So is my speaking. So is, so is doing a podcast. It's a form of expression. I think about, it may sound odd, but I think someone like your husband, that's a Navy SEAL, one of the ways

• 1:03:19Ed Mylett?

  he expressed himself is in being a defender of the country and a masculine person and standing for certain principles and standards and living a particular way. He's expressing himself, right? And, or an artist expresses themselves, a carpenter expresses themselves through the work that they do. So, I, I think that happy people have found that form of expression to some extent as well. And unhappy people have this internal conflict of knowing they're an unexpressed being still. And I feel strongly about that. I'm curious with you.

• 1:03:54Codie Sanchez?

  Yeah.

• 1:03:54Ed Mylett?

  And I don't know if you've ever been asked this before. One, am I crazy about that theory? And are you happy?

• 1:03:59Codie Sanchez?

  Yeah, that's a great question. I think you're right.

• 1:04:02Ed Mylett?

  You're a very serious person.

• 1:04:03Codie Sanchez?

  I am serious. Um, I, I think you're right. That tracks for me. I, I think that that seems reasonable that I have a saying that I stole from Emma Baumbach, which is when I, when I stand before God at the end of my days, I hope I can say to him that I have not one drop of what you gave me left. I have squeezed it all. And it's sort of like that Hemingway-ism, you know, I want to slide into the pearly gates bruised, beaten and trodden, right? And so, um, like when you hear those lines, if you're alive, you feel it. You feel it. You feel alive. And I think when you, when you feel those lines and you get that tingle, that's when you know that it's truth. And so I think you're right. I've never heard it as they're unexpressed beings,

• 1:04:45Codie Sanchez?

  but I think that is it. And, and that is why I'm really glad that there are people like you on the internet. And why, even though many times, you know, people like you and I don't want to do it anymore because there's a lot of downsides to it. I think it's really important because people need to hear the anti-message today, which is that it is okay to strive for things. In fact, that may be what you're placed here to do. Not the newest, you know, Gucci bag or whatever, but to strive for what could you, what could, what are you capable of?

• 1:05:16Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 1:05:16Codie Sanchez?

  Like, I want to know.

• 1:05:17Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 1:05:18Codie Sanchez?

  I want to know. Not every day. Some days I'm tired, but most days.

• 1:05:21Ed Mylett?

  So do I. And you talk about faith earlier, like one, prayer is a form of expression to me. And also prayer is a way of, um, getting divine information about what that, how that expression should take form in your life. And so that's why that part of our lives, for those of us that have it, is the most important part of our life because we are aware of our mortality. I've said at the end of my life, I just want to make sure I maxed out my life. I want the Lord to go, well done, good and faithful servant, get in here. But at the same time, I also want him, I have this weird theory that he introduces you to who you could have been.

• 1:05:53Codie Sanchez?

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:05:54Ed Mylett?

  And you meet her and you, you want to end up landing there, identical twins. If you end up being complete strangers, that's hell. This is who you could have been, what you could have accomplished, what you, all those other things. And heaven, some form of heaven is meeting her someday and going, I know you. I've been chasing you all my life.

• 1:06:11Codie Sanchez?

  Yeah.

• 1:06:11Ed Mylett?

  And she looks back at you and goes, you caught me.

• 1:06:15Ed Mylett?

  You maxed out, right? I just, and by the way, one of the things I admire about you so much is I see a human being in pursuit of that. And like, I think like real recognizes real in that sense, right? Like like minded people gravitate to one another. By the way, this is one of the best conversations we've ever had on the show.

• 1:06:31Codie Sanchez?

  Hey, I agree. I'm learning so much.

• 1:06:33Ed Mylett?

  I, well, I don't know about that. I'm just trying to contribute to what you're saying. But let me ask you a last.

• 1:06:39Ed Mylett?

  If someone's listening to this, because you're just such a, like a treasure of information about diverse topics. Someone's sitting there just overall, and they're like, I just, this is a general question, but I know you'll give a great answer. I want to change my life. Like I'm, I, I listen to shows, I listen to my lead, I, I'm now watching you on social media, which they should be if they're not. And I, I really feel this desire to like, change my life. I want to express my being bigger and better and more specifically. What, where do I begin? Like, I haven't been for so long. You've been at full speed since college. Let's just be honest.

• 1:07:15Codie Sanchez?

  Yeah.

• 1:07:15Ed Mylett?

  Okay. Someone listens that's not been.

• 1:07:18Codie Sanchez?

  Yeah.

• 1:07:19Ed Mylett?

  And they're like, I'm waking up right now. I'm awakened. I'm excited and inspired. Do I go buy a business right now? Or like, what do I go do? What would you recommend I do to begin that process of change in my life?

• 1:07:33Codie Sanchez?

  Make one big, physical, almost irreversible change. And the reason why is I think, uh, the easiest thing to do is what? Is move your body. You know, the easiest thing to do is decide to not put something in your mouth that you wanted to put in your mouth before. It's, it's actually the physical stuff that's easy. The mental stuff is really hard. And we talked about this before too. And so if I wanted to change my life, I would pick something that felt uncomfortable, but I knew I needed to change physically. So that might be move. Move out of your city right now. Move to a city where the game you want to play is being played. If you want to be in real estate, move to the city where you think you can learn that. If you want to be in media, come to Austin. Everybody in media is in Austin, but move physically.

• 1:08:18Codie Sanchez?

  I think, uh, we did a, a study actually looking at traditionally successful people, uh, at the highest level. So let's say eight figure plus in net worth, if that's how we're going to define it. How many of them had never, uh, had never left their hometown even to go to college? I could find one, one. And so, okay, maybe that's step one, physically move yourself, because that's hard to do. And maybe step two is, you know, you do this, physically work out to the point which is totally uncomfortable. Because I do think our, our mind follows our body. Tony Robbins, you, so many people have told us this again, and again, and again. And there is no excuse for not doing it. And so that would be the first thing that I would say,

• 1:09:01Codie Sanchez?

  just make a big, huge commitment. And that's why I'm such a big fan of Andy Frisella. I mean, I had a, I had a, she's, I call her my cousin, but she's just a very dear family friend. And she lost like, I don't know, 100 pounds on his stuff. And we were yelling at her for years to try to do it. And when she decided to like, make that one big irreversible change that she couldn't go back on, then her life completely changed. Then she found somebody she loved. Then she found, you know, a business she really liked. And so I don't teach health or fitness, or I don't have a moving company, but I might choose one of those things. And then I think the money gets figured out.

• 1:09:38Ed Mylett?

  I think you're extraordinary.

• 1:09:39Codie Sanchez?

  Oh, thank you.

• 1:09:40Ed Mylett?

  Seated my expectations.

• 1:09:41Codie Sanchez?

  Oh, yay.

• 1:09:42Ed Mylett?

  You guys, I didn't know this. I mean, I sought her out, pursued her, wasn't easy at first. I think it took me three messages, maybe.

• 1:09:49Codie Sanchez?

  I'm terrible at DMs.

• 1:09:50Ed Mylett?

  No, but it was great. And then she was gracious enough to come here in person, which I'm really glad we did.

• 1:09:55Codie Sanchez?

  I always like in person. It's my new thing that I don't want to go on other people's podcasts if they're not in person. Because if I don't want to make a commitment to have that conversation, then I'm not sure it's a, it's a conversation I need to have at that moment.

• 1:10:07Ed Mylett?

  I'm grateful you made the commitment. This was extraordinary today.

• 1:10:10Codie Sanchez?

  Thank you.

• 1:10:11Ed Mylett?

  And when the book comes out, I'll have you back on.

• 1:10:12Codie Sanchez?

  Yeah, 100%.

• 1:10:13Ed Mylett?

  I would love that.

• 1:10:14Codie Sanchez?

  Oh, that'd be amazing.

• 1:10:14Ed Mylett?

  No, no, we're going to do that.

• 1:10:15Codie Sanchez?

  Okay.

• 1:10:16Ed Mylett?

  You guys, this was Codie Sanchez today. She's incredible. Go follow her on social media. That way you can just get all of her information. And when her books come out, and different things she's offering. She has a, I just call it like a contrarian true approach to business and life that resonates with me. And I'm pretty sure that it resonated with all of you guys. Share today's episode, everybody. People need to hear this. So much great information today. I told you, you'd want to take notes. Listen to it again and write it down. All right, everybody. God bless you. Max out.