Rob Dyrdek - A Relentless Pursuit

This man needs no introduction! Also known as a DO-OR-Dier, Rob Dyrdek's relentless pursuit of his childhood dreams made him a professional athlete at 16 years old and propelled him into the world of business before most people entered college. Surrounded by entrepreneurs in his youth, Dyrdek quickly learned the power of building brands which he used to create his first company by the age of 18. By leveraging his influence and designing new concepts and ideas, he helped turn a rising footwear and apparel brand into a $500 million international company. With a successful production company, several hit shows created on MTV including "Ridiculousness" and "Rob & Big" his unquenchable desire to live life to the fullest has pushed him to develop a strategy for success. It is really a privilege to bring you my friend and business partner with @outstandingfoods, Rob Dyrdek, as we deeply examine his life plan for happiness, balance, and love while still achieving greatness in his career. This interview will rejuvenate and inspire you to embark on your own relentless pursuit. #maxout! WATCH/LISTEN NOW! 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?

  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. 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.

• 0:45Ed Mylett?

  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.

• 1:01Speaker 01

  Mr. President, my company, for me, of the explosion on our rig.

• 1:05Speaker 02

  On October 2nd.

• 1:06Speaker 01

  Causing massive water displacement and triggering a tsunami. They all heap the blame on me.

• 1:11Speaker 02

  Tom Cruise is. Digger got us into this mess. And Digger's gonna dig us up. From the director of Birdman and the Revenant.

• 1:18Speaker 03

  What would happen if I stopped drilling? You stop, you freeze to death, that's what.

• 1:22Speaker 02

  With great power comes great deniability.

• 1:25Speaker 03

  I'm not the first nanny.

• 1:27Speaker 02

  Digger. See the trailer online. Only in theaters October 2nd. Rated R. Under 17. Not a minute without parent.

• 1:32Speaker 04

  Warning. This podcast is intense. It's for bold visionary dreamers with a passion and guts to become a champion.

• 1:50Ed Mylett?

  Welcome back to Max Out. I'm Ed Mylett, and I'm so excited to bring you the program today. The man to my left is literally one of the most interesting men in the world. And at least for me, I can tell you that for today, it's been something I've been looking forward to for a long time to pick this big brain of his. You probably recognize his face, and most of you know his name. This is Rob Dyrdek. And this is a guy who at 16 years old dropped out of high school. He founded a professional skateboarding league. He's been a professional skateboarder. He's got 21 Guinness World Records. He's a media stud. He's a rock star in the entrepreneurial space. He's a branding master, but most importantly for me, this is a guy who's a tremendous husband and a great father. And we're going to pick his brain about how he's accomplished all of those things here today. So thank you for being here, brother.

• 2:35Rob Dyrdek?

  Thanks for having me. You know, I've seen it in video and now to experience what it's actually like to be here live. It's so much more beautiful and remarkable than I could ever imagine.

• 2:45Ed Mylett?

  Thank you, man. I appreciate that. So let's be honest, man. You've had a pretty interesting life so far.

• 2:50Rob Dyrdek?

  I have. I certainly have. I like to say I've lived a lot of lifetimes already, you know.

• 2:55Ed Mylett?

  Do you feel that way?

• 2:56Rob Dyrdek?

  I do, yeah.

• 2:57Ed Mylett?

  What do you mean when you say that?

• 2:58Rob Dyrdek?

  Look, you want to be a professional athlete. You have this obsession and pursuit and you achieve that. Like then you take that and now like I want to, I want to expand this and be, take this into television. And then you go and live this entire television life, all these different businesses and different things. You go from athlete to stunt guy to business guy to father to husband, you know. So each one of those is a, is a pretty, pretty significant chunk of life that's completely different than I am today.

• 3:29Ed Mylett?

  I want to figure out how you did that. And I know the audience does too, because they see this guy on TV. Obviously, I think arguably you're the face of MTV, you know. By the way, what's interesting about that too is for multiple generations too.

• 3:39Rob Dyrdek?

  Yeah.

• 3:39Ed Mylett?

  Here I am at my age, you're the face. And then my kids, you're still the face for them. And so the career's just been unbelievable and I'm fascinated by you because when I saw you on TV, I kind of had this picture of who you were, which I think is probably accurate to some extent. But then there's these multiple layers of you, like there are all people.

• 3:56Rob Dyrdek?

  Yeah.

• 3:56Ed Mylett?

  And so what I try to do on the show is get to those other layers. And so let's just start out, how does a dude who drops out of high school at 16, okay? So there's a lot of people watching this who, you know, don't have advanced degrees, but want to go win in their life, or maybe they're a parent and they got a child who's struggling in school. Did you drop out because things weren't going well in school? Did you drop out because of the whole skateboarding thing? I'm just curious.

• 4:18Rob Dyrdek?

  Yeah, look, you know, I'm...

• 4:21Rob Dyrdek?

  I dropped out because I just was a professional skateboarder, right? Like, and I, you know, one year in my junior year, I got straight A's for the semester just to show them, like, look, I could, it's not even hard for me. It's not even a matter of if I need to do it. Uh, this is my dream, this is my passion, I achieved it. I'm now a professional skateboarder. Uh, there's no, you know, in that year, in between that year, I had, uh, went to my first pro contest in Muenster, Germany and got fourth place in the world championships and all my signature product had launched that year and, you know, I was like, I don't need to go to school, it's just not in my path. I'm not gonna go to college, I'm not gonna, I'm going to move to California and be a professional skateboarder.

• 5:05Rob Dyrdek?

  And so even though I don't fully remember this, my mom tells me the story of going in and them all trying to tell me I have to go to school and like principals, counselors, everyone, all in one room and I just like convinced, sold everybody on like, and they were like, you wanna know what, he probably doesn't, we should probably just let him go.

• 5:21Ed Mylett?

  You're already marketing and closing people.

• 5:23Rob Dyrdek?

  Yeah, and so, you know, it was really the beginning of, of just let him, he's going to pursue whatever he's gonna do on his own and, and you gotta just sort of let him do it and that's sort of the process that, that, that allowed me to get out of school and I still had to go and take a night class, so I got enough credits to get a diploma.

• 5:44Ed Mylett?

  Got your GED or your diploma, okay.

• 5:46Rob Dyrdek?

  Yeah.

• 5:46Ed Mylett?

  Is there a difference between a GED and a diploma?

• 5:47Rob Dyrdek?

  Yeah, I think that with the diplomas, like you still had enough credits to get your, to graduate where a GED would be like a, I believe, like a, not a formidable, uh, or a complete formal, uh, diploma.

• 6:00Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 6:00Rob Dyrdek?

  So.

• 6:01Ed Mylett?

  So how do you get there? How do you get from, you get, you're, you're 16, you drop out. How do you, were, were you making enough money at the time that you could move to California or what happened?

• 6:08Rob Dyrdek?

  Here's the thing, uh, in December of 1991, I sold one board and got a check for $2, you know? And I needed that $2, you know, because that was all the money I made that month and I actually broke that up into quarters and went and bought a bunch of sodas that were at a quarter, uh, Dr. Pepper machine, but.

• 6:27Ed Mylett?

  Wow.

• 6:27Rob Dyrdek?

  You know, I think, you know, even in that era, I would track. All my finances, right? I would say back then when I was sixteen, I'm a bro, I gotta treat myself as a business. And you know, I wa- you know, I would got a four hundred dollar check one month and a six hundred. And then it was all scattered in that one devastating December where it was like two dollars and and in the spring, you know, the company was uh was growing was ultimately like, hey, if you move to California right now, we'll guarantee you a thousand dollars a month.

• 6:56Ed Mylett?

  Thousand a month?

• 6:57Rob Dyrdek?

  And I was like, you what? What? Out of here, man. I felt like I hit the lottery. Like it was just like, what? Me and a buddy of mine who was who was also about to uh turn pro like jumped in our Honda Civics and shot across the country to uh begin our professional skateboarding career in San Diego.

• 7:18Ed Mylett?

  That's crazy, man. So you get there, I'm just curious, as this is happening, I did, because a lot of people listen to this, because I look at you, I think some people look at you as the TV guy. I look at you as the entrepreneur guy.

• 7:29Rob Dyrdek?

  Yeah.

• 7:29Ed Mylett?

  And what's awesome about you is there's so many different marketplaces out there that see different versions of you. Some of you see the athlete.

• 7:35Rob Dyrdek?

  Yeah.

• 7:36Ed Mylett?

  Some of them see the the branding guy with whether, by the way, the multiple brands you built from alcohol to apparel to, you know, the the food business that you and I are a part of now, all these multiple brands. And then there's obviously the TV show, there's the producer, there's there's just all these layers to you. Did you see all this? Like you're eighteen, did you, were you already kind of like a business savvy guy or were you a skater, professional skater dude?

• 7:57Rob Dyrdek?

  No, I mean, I was business, I was raised by entrepreneurs, right? You you gotta understand, even the company that I turned pro for was guys that I knew since I was twelve that moved back from California, who started the Alien Workshop, the company I turned pro with, with my entrepreneur mentor, uh who lived in Dayton, Ohio at the time, they all formed that company together. And then there was a a couple other uh guys with them that started other multiple companies that I was a part of. This is all that I watched at fourteen, fifteen. So in my mind, this is just what I was supposed to do. So even though I I treated myself as a business and you know, was watching my finances and all this stuff.

• 8:40Rob Dyrdek?

  If I started my first soup the nuts, built my first like pure brand at eighteen, right? Where soon as I got to California, I did a partnership with a big manufacturing and distribution company. And started Orion Trucks. I was reading a book at the time called The Orion Prophecy. You know, I was super into conspiracies and aliens and when I was in my teens and like, I was like, man, like, we should name it Orion. I hand drew the logo. It was like this star with an O around it. I put together, you know, five of the, literally the most accomplished, top level pros in the world, which then went and got two guys apiece in Orion Trucks.

• 9:21Rob Dyrdek?

  When it came out was the, literally the, the dream team of skateboarding that I had built for this accessory. And I did all of that for point five percent of sales.

• 9:34Ed Mylett?

  So you, you have it kind of going, like you got this entrepreneurial fever. You got the skateboarding thing going and then there's like kind of this time. I just want everyone to hear this because as an entrepreneur and as a man, as a person, I should say, there's just false starts in life. Like you get going and then you don't, you make progress and then you regress. And then I don't think you're ever prepared for every moment. Like you weren't prepared for the point five. You didn't know to negotiate the right percentage or those things. But right around twenty-four, there's another kind of like defining time for you, at least one of them. Doesn't, doesn't your team come to you and go, hey, look, we think you're kind of toast now. So what, tell them about that.

• 10:07Rob Dyrdek?

  But look, in, in, in that gap now, I've found huge success, right? Now I've helped launch the DC footwear brand and, and moved to California and now become a superstar in skateboarding and all this stuff's going and, and, but it wasn't fulfilling me, right? Oddly enough, like the pressure of, of being in the streets and being a pro skateboarder just wasn't like, like my angst to want to do bigger things in business and do other things besides skateboarding became incredibly problematic. I was launching all these different businesses that I didn't know anything about the industry's, record labels and, and retail stores and all this stuff with this newfound money that I had helped develop by creating DC Shoes and all the royalty money I was making at this time.

• 10:53Rob Dyrdek?

  Getting hammered on life lessons with taxes, you know, when you first make big money, starting all types of dummy companies all over the country, trying to like put my money in different places, Nevada Corps and whatnot.

• 11:06Rob Dyrdek?

  And. I equate it to this, I lost my way and along losing my way,

• 11:14Rob Dyrdek?

  I lost the belief in myself, right? And when you have had success your whole life, where you were a young kid, you played soccer, you became a top soccer player, you decided to pick up karate, you've become an amazing Taekwondo fighter, you pick up skateboarding, you path straight to professionalism, you're everything, first companies, everything you do, you're doing like, so when you grow up with a deep self-belief and everything you do works thus building this deep foundation that anything you put your mind to, you can achieve, it's a much more dramatic loss when that drifts from you, right? Because belief becomes a part of your identity, right?

• 11:57Rob Dyrdek?

  Which is connected to your ability to achieve, which since that's what you've been doing your whole life, you don't know any other way. So when that dips from you, it's a much more painful, more dramatic thing. I think a lot of, you know, big athletes, like when... When it tends, they struggle, man. Or the ones that were chosen ones from junior high all the way and they get into their third or fourth year in the league and get hurt or like now, you don't even understand how to like manage your identity because it's had this trajectory for so long. Hundred percent right. And it was compounded when DC basically told me they thought my best years were behind me

• 12:40Rob Dyrdek?

  and that this would be the last contract, you know? And I think that was, and I can, I can say it in hindsight and telling the story so many different times of like really knowing like, now it was like you lost the belief in yourself. And at the time, I sought out a, I was looking for a hypnotherapist, right? Like just to hypnotize me to be a better skateboarder, right? I was like hunting all these things, right? And I found Dr. George Pratt at La Jolla Scripps and what he did was this technique... That was, he wrote a book called Hyper Success and he basically did this hypnotherapy to just give your

• 13:25Rob Dyrdek?

  inner self, your subconscious, the belief that it was meant to have great success. And whether it was the moment in time, it was like being at the pit, whatever it was, but at that sort of 24 years, like it was that moment of like, no, you've got to take control of, of all of this. And from that point on, I told them at the time, I said, you know, I don't and at the end of this contract, I'll be a completely different person. And then I rededicated my life to like skateboarding. And, and you know, took all, all the way back to like top 10 in the world again. And then like all the signature products and all the filming and, and image and brand and everything just exploded.

• 14:09Rob Dyrdek?

  Basically from that point, uh, straight into television, you know, four or five years later.

• 14:14Ed Mylett?

  Ananas. They, usually when I interview somebody, you know, they've accomplished something in their sport and we talk about that. Or they've accomplished something in business and we talk about that. The complexity of what you've done. I wonder, and it's probably even a good thing that you don't always just step back and go, wow, right? But the complexity of, and how many times you've remade yourself? Because that lesson at 24, that lesson at 16, I think there was another lesson when you're preparing yourself, we're going to talk about later. For finding someone like Brianna, that whole thing. See, I had this really weird thing happen. I'll tell you, when Max was six years old, I was at this car wash. And there's a really nice guy, I'd see there all the time on Saturday, the old guy. Turns out he's about my age now, but at the time he was older than me. And just out of niceness, he says to me, he goes, hey, enjoy the six-year-old.

• 14:58Ed Mylett?

  Cause when he turns seven, the six-year-old's gone forever. And when he turns seven, or when he turns eight, the seven-year-old's gone forever. And you've got little kids, you know, man, they just keep becoming these different versions of themselves. And I remember saying back to the guy without trying to be disrespectful, I said back to him, I said, so when did that stop for you? And he just stared at me, kind of blankly, and he goes, I don't know. And I said, you should figure that out. And what I respect about you is that you have not settled. The eighteen-year-old version wasn't the same at twenty-four. The twenty-four-year-old man doesn't even resemble the forty-three-year-old or the forty-four-year-old or the twenty-four-year-old, right? Just it shifts all the time. I respect that about you. So that happens, and then you go on from there. We can't document your whole life.

• 15:39Rob Dyrdek?

  Let me say this to that too, right? Because I think I've heard you say before about how you're in pursuit of the vision of, of, you know, something to the effect of you're pursuing the vision of the man that you expect yourself to become, right? Something to that effect. And I would say when I finally shifted to that, that

• 16:00Rob Dyrdek?

  in that pursuit of that individual, I also knew that that individual was slowly changing with the experience that I was having pursuing it, right? And it's not that it's this, you're pursuing something that's not attainable. It's with experience and knowledge and understanding of yourself, because you're on the journey just to master you, that the more you begin to master you, the more that ideal version of you begins to evolve too. So you're in this sort of relentless pursuit that's clear that I think at some point it becomes fully optimized. The fully optimized version of yourself is who you will catch up with. Like, that won't forever be elusive.

• 16:42Ed Mylett?

  Oh, my gosh, that's good.

• 16:44Rob Dyrdek?

  And I think as, because we're so similar in that sort of idea, it's the moment I realized that, no, this growth is actually one of your key attributes. Like, embrace it and enjoy what you're able to achieve, but know that that's not part of your makeup. Like, the relentless pursuit is actually your makeup.

• 17:06Ed Mylett?

  Oh, my gosh, brother.

• 17:07Rob Dyrdek?

  And that changed. It allows me to not...

• 17:14Rob Dyrdek?

  Very difficult to look back and reflect because I mean, I just enjoy the pursuit so much. You know what I mean?

• 17:20Ed Mylett?

  Me too. I've had you, I've heard you say about this too. You make me feel really good because although we're a little bit different personality wise, you're probably the most similar person to me that I've met maybe ever. And just that, it's even hard to describe, but we're both just so obsessed with this pursuit of growth and change and experiences in life. And one of the things I struggle with is my memory.

• 17:42Rob Dyrdek?

  Yeah.

• 17:43Ed Mylett?

  And, and I know you do.

• 17:45Rob Dyrdek?

  So do I.

• 17:46Ed Mylett?

  I know, like.

• 17:46Rob Dyrdek?

  A gift and a curse.

• 17:47Ed Mylett?

  It's a gift and a curse. I think, I think maybe one of the gifts of it is I don't remember all my failures that just hold me back and I keep telling all these old stories. But I really do have a hard time remembering things. In fact, when I get interviewed, the great gift for me when I'm interviewed is it forces some recall of memories I didn't have before. You have that too, right? What do you think that is?

• 18:05Rob Dyrdek?

  I don't know, but just talking it out, thinking about it, right? With somebody else that experiences it. I think it's more gift than curse. Now, it, it comes back to haunt you when you're trying to like remember the details, like on certain things and it jams you up a little. Where it jams me up at this state is I'm taking in and learning so much at a high level and then it pushes out stuff that I could really use again when I wanna use it for another situation, if you will, especially in business. But I also, it's also made me super conscious of stuff that I really want to know, that I want to remember and never forget, that I tell myself that as I get there, right?

• 18:48Ed Mylett?

  Meaning when a major moment happens, you have to go, hey.

• 18:50Rob Dyrdek?

  And the engagement, getting wedding, children, like a moment with children, like I'll, when I really, even just recently taking the helicopter to Catalina to celebrate my three year anniversary, like I kept telling myself as we're flying over the city and look at the ocean, like, don't, like, just feel this, like, like, remember this, look at this, remember this. So it's like, I have to practice that and those lock in, right?

• 19:18Ed Mylett?

  Yeah. That's why, you guys, if I started to try to list for you the amount of moments that he can't remember, but also that have been amazing in his life, some of them, you just would, literally, it is what he said earlier, it's many, many, many, many, many, many, many lives, right? And so. I want to touch on some of them where there's lessons, but I just, I'm gonna spend most of my time in your brain and in your heart. So, but you go all the way from, let's be honest, you go from Robin big, you got ridiculousness, right? You got all of the moments that happened on all of these shows too, right? Fantasy Factory, like all of these different things. It's just, it's bananas. And so

• 19:54Rob Dyrdek?

  And keep in mind Fantasy Factory was basically a moment generator. You know what I mean? From getting attacked by a shark to jockeying a horse for a race to like flipping a car for a Super Bowl commercial, breaking a world record, jumping a car backwards, like getting towed into a giant wave and almost dying, like all these crazy, crazy, crazy highlight reel that no human being on the planet Earth has.

• 20:18Ed Mylett?

  Correct.

• 20:18Rob Dyrdek?

  Right? Is

• 20:19Ed Mylett?

  Did you just hear what he said by the way? Just, just slow that down just a second, okay? Ammalled by a tiger, bit attacked by a shark, you kissed a bear on the lips, I think.

• 20:27Rob Dyrdek?

  I kissed a bear?

• 20:28Ed Mylett?

  Right, and then

• 20:29Rob Dyrdek?

  It's an easier one.

• 20:30Ed Mylett?

  What, so I want to just stay on that just for a second, because like, those are once in a lifetime moments you've had over and over and over again, right? So, stay on that just, meanwhile, kicking ass in business, meanwhile founding a skateboarding, it's just, it's like, you make me feel small, which is awesome, right? So

• 20:47Rob Dyrdek?

  And keep in mind too,

• 20:48Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 20:49Rob Dyrdek?

  They are fully intertwined.

• 20:51Ed Mylett?

  What do you mean?

• 20:52Rob Dyrdek?

  You know what I mean? Like, I'm negotiating a deal, a five-year, like, multimillion-dollar mega deal with Nike right before, like, I gotta hang up the phone and break a world record for jumping a car ramp to ramp 90 feet backwards, right? For a giant Chevy integration deal that Chevy's going to do a deal for being a part of our league while launching a complete new company. It's like, you're taking phone calls in between this sort of chaos and sort of all aspects of your life. That was, that was a six or seven-year run of doing all this insanity while doing all of your business and normal stuff inside it.

• 21:29Ed Mylett?

  So that's maxing out these different areas, the pun is intended, right? But like, so there are people out here who use the complexity of their lives as an excuse not to succeed in any one of them, right? So, oh god, I'm a dad and I've got my business and I got my, you know, Soccer league or whatever it is. How did you do that? So if you were to say, here's one of the reasons how I can compartmentalize and win in different areas. What would be one of the keys?

• 21:51Rob Dyrdek?

  Just sheer drive and relentless pursuit of success. Now, the problem with that was is here you are. You know, someone that can do anything. You you end up you have the ability to do anything. So you end up doing everything. Then you end up kind of standing for nothing. Right? So you end up meaning so much to so many different people. You you're not even sure what you stand for. Like, are is your passion business? Do you want to do stunts? Are you a TV guy? Like, do you want to be the commissioner of your league? Do you like skate? Like, what is like? I had to stop and realize that.

• 22:36Rob Dyrdek?

  Because my hope was if I just kept doing all this stuff, one of them would show me the way. Right? So and as someone that's so driven and whose gift is execution, the moment you decide to do something, you're going to do it. I'm going to do a cartoon and a toy line. Like, OK, I got a cartoon on Nickelodeon and a toy line in Walmart. I got attacked by a shark to launch it. I'm going to do a new television show. I got this. I read an article with Vinnie DeBona. I'm going to do this clip video show. It's going to be the biggest thing ever. Like, like, you end up doing all of these things. And you basically behind that, there's 20 of them that aren't working, that you're putting that same energy of running into the wall with. Right?

• 23:17Rob Dyrdek?

  And furthermore, it's not leading anywhere since you're hoping one will determine what your future is. Right? And I stopped and and, yes, I would look at myself as this highly conditioned stress athlete, where you could you could put yourself under the deepest pressure and and, you know, take on 50 or 60 things at a time and operate smooth and happy. And But it wasn't until I looked deep within myself and decided what type of life do you actually want?

• 23:52Ed Mylett?

  It's easier to do when you're sort of in the midst of failure externally. But you did it in the midst of success.

• 23:57Rob Dyrdek?

  And so this is what it does, right? It, when I finally transitioned to the, the, the next level, right? Or the, or the fully designed version, right? Which I'm on my way, right? I'd say I'm exactly two and one half years into.

• 24:16Rob Dyrdek?

  Then I'll speak about it and it'll be what I'm known for and what we talk about, right? Because since I'm in the middle of transitioning in it, when you look at, at my body of work, it is like so all over the place. You don't even, it's so hard to like land on what it is because the stunt aspect is, is really interesting. You know what I mean? And being a professional athlete and then like, oh, you jump up and, and oh, now you're doing all these businesses. We're partners together and this super innovative, amazing brand like, like, oh, but then no, you're still shooting nine episodes of television a week. You know what I mean? And like, you're still, you know, entering your 12th, 13th and 14th season on, on ridiculousness,

• 24:59Rob Dyrdek?

  putting you at 10 years and 25 seasons and 500 episodes of television on MTV. Like it's hard to put down like, what does he really, what would he be known for? When really you would know me primarily for, for MTV. If you know business or you've had a conversation, then you're like, okay, this guy is like tuned in.

• 25:20Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 25:20Rob Dyrdek?

  But my goal is to be known for the life that I created, the life that I lived and the, and the way that I systematized it and built it, that ultimately people could replicate in their own lives in the future.

• 25:36Ed Mylett?

  But yeah, the example's gonna be bananas. I, I actually admire the diversity of your success.

• 25:42Rob Dyrdek?

  It's been a lot of fun. I mean, it's like.

• 25:44Ed Mylett?

  Brother, come on.

• 25:44Rob Dyrdek?

  And I'll tell you another moment too, man, when I, after I got attacked by that shark.

• 25:48Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 25:49Rob Dyrdek?

  Cause I'm like, this is so dumb. Like this isn't even, this isn't even gonna be good. Like, why am I doing this? That's every stunt, every stunt. It's like, this isn't even that, this is so dumb. And afterwards like. No one in the world.

• 26:04Rob Dyrdek?

  But I remember swimming up off of the, looking down on that boat and stopping as I was swimming up and there's like 50 sharks swimming around, telling myself, just look and soak this into your mind because you will never be back here again, you know? And I had that to go along with the great photo of that like shark on my arm, you know what I mean? Like, but that-

• 26:29Ed Mylett?

  For all the achievers though, and for me, like, I just want you to know something. You take, you mentioned it, but I gotta be honest with you, it's one of the things you're supposed to say to me. I don't think I personally, and I'm an achiever and I enjoy my life and I, you know, people come to me for advice on how to live better. But I think I could do a better job of telling myself, hey man, stop. What you've said, the flight to Catalina, the shark thing, like, stop. I think achievers have to do that once in a while. Stop. Appreciate this moment for a second, man, it's not coming back again, you know? And I, you and I are talking about your kids at their ages and, you know, it made me think. Did I appreciate all those moments when they were two, when they were infants, when they were three, when they were eight and 10 and I didn't, you know? And I wish I could go back in those moments again.

• 27:13Rob Dyrdek?

  Think about it too though, you, think about how optimized you are as a man today versus when they were born.

• 27:19Ed Mylett?

  True.

• 27:20Rob Dyrdek?

  Right? And the lucky thing for me is I had evolved to a place where being super efficient and using my energy for what I'm only passionate about and having clear goals and vision for life is the foundation that I started with for the family. So, I've never missed a pediatrician appointment. I've rarely, I've never missed waking them up, very rarely, when I'm gone or putting them to bed, right? And that's by design, that's by moving out of Fantasy Factory in downtown and living in Hollywood to a home in Beverly Hills and an office in Beverly Hills and being super close

• 28:01Rob Dyrdek?

  as you're developing this life and creating a plan for my, how I use my time and my schedule. You know what I mean? Everything is systematized around full balance. I take my first meeting at 11 a.m. My last one at 5. It never changes. I don't compromise my schedule and my time with my family and wife in my pursuit, right? I fit it inside it, you know?

• 28:28Ed Mylett?

  Whoa. So, say something about that. So, we're gonna, I wanna get into this life thing now, cuz I love the word about optimizing your life. Since the second we talked, the first time we talked was gonna be five minutes, it's turned into a really long phone call. We actually, together, talked about these things. Like, these very topics are what you and I discussed when we first connected. Of all those stunts you had, though, I'm just curious, cuz it leads to life. We're gonna go into life stuff now. So, you had the deal with the tiger chasing you down and mauling you. That, to me, even, for me, I don't know why, that's even scarier than the shark thing for me. Seeing that sucker run after you, dude, like...

• 29:03Rob Dyrdek?

  They're trained.

• 29:04Ed Mylett?

  I don't give a crap.

• 29:06Rob Dyrdek?

  Sharks in the ocean, but he was biting my neck and they kept saying, "Put it down. Put it down." Cuz I was the "it." You know what I mean? Like, I'm like, is this guy supposed to be doing this? Like...

• 29:17Ed Mylett?

  Dude, they're a millimeter away from some artery. Like, dude, they're just, come on, man. That's crazy.

• 29:21Rob Dyrdek?

  I'll tell you the scariest thing of all of them was jockeying a horse for a race. Like, that was the scariest of all of them. Cuz the car stuff, you're in a cage, like, you're covered in the mesh here, trained tiger. Like, when you're on the back of a horse going 40 miles an hour, like, if you, when you can barely, if you get shot off that thing, you're basically in, like, a car wreck with no car, right? Like, that was the scariest.

• 29:46Ed Mylett?

  Are you hearing what we're saying to each other right now? Like, you know what was scarier than getting bit by a shark? It wasn't the tiger, it was riding a horse. But then, for me...

• 29:54Rob Dyrdek?

  It feels good to be able to say it. You know what I mean?

• 29:57Ed Mylett?

  It must feel good.

• 29:58Rob Dyrdek?

  It's like, I don't think about it so often, but then, just even talking about, comparing them and thinking about it, and the fact that I own that as a highlight reel forever, it makes me happy.

• 30:07Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, and it's also like, hey, man, look, being on TV all that long for some people would be scary. Staying at the top that long can be scary, you know? Not wanting to fall off the totem pole you've climbed up, the flagpole, all those things. But I wanna ask you about one of the stunts you did, cuz I think... Like, at least for me, it would cause me to do a little reflection. So of all of them you did, the one that captured my heart the most was the one where Laird drags you on the, um, I think it's Laird on, on the sea doo into riding the wave.

• 30:34Rob Dyrdek?

  Yeah.

• 30:34Ed Mylett?

  Okay. And so you ride this wave and you crash and you thought you were gonna die.

• 30:39Rob Dyrdek?

  Yeah.

• 30:39Ed Mylett?

  Of all of them, is that the one that you were the most sure you were gonna die in the middle of?

• 30:43Rob Dyrdek?

  I'm curious. No, I mean, it's the only time in my life that I was dying.

• 30:46Ed Mylett?

  So tell, tell me about what happened there and what it did to you.

• 30:50Rob Dyrdek?

  I'm, you know, the trippiest thing about it too is like it was pouring rain and I swear the moment I stepped in the water to do it, the, it stopped raining and a rainbow went right over it. Right? And I'm like, what's, what? Like, it was freaky enough and we're like, what is going on? Like, it was just this freaky sort of moment in time. So it like already had this like weird tone and if you can imagine like, and then like some of the local Hawaiian guys were like asked where I was doing, uh, getting towed in. And they were like, oh, it's real sharky out there, right?

• 31:25Ed Mylett?

  Sharky?

• 31:26Rob Dyrdek?

  Yeah.

• 31:26Ed Mylett?

  Was this after the shark thing or before?

• 31:28Rob Dyrdek?

  Like, this is, this is way after, but it doesn't, when you're doing like, you know, go, getting a, uh, Bahamas reef shark with a metal thing, like it's super controlled. When you're laying on your back in the deep ocean and all you can think of is like sharks coming up from underneath to get you. I didn't even, I wasn't worried about what was gonna happen in that wave. I just wanted to get up so that I don't get attacked by a shark, right? And, and if you can imagine this, you know, I've grinded a 20 stair handrail and flipped a car ramp to ramp and, and done all these crazy stunts and you face them, you face the danger. On getting towed into a giant wave, it's behind you. So like you, like I'd never surfed before. It was literally the only time I'd ever surfed in my life.

• 32:12Ed Mylett?

  You had never surfed.

• 32:13Rob Dyrdek?

  Never surfed before. And it was like the first surf, wave I ever surfed was like 18 feet, right?

• 32:18Ed Mylett?

  Dude.

• 32:19Rob Dyrdek?

  So it's the most peaceful, amazing, like, you know, cause you can't see it. And like, you're like, whoa, you know what I mean? Like, what do we? And, and then it's like a house crashes on you and you don't, like, you can feel something coming. You can start to hear it and then just wham, and now you're in like this fight. Everything in you to just get to the surface, right? So.

• 32:42Rob Dyrdek?

  You know, it's really weird management of emotions and experiences as it's related to when you get into kill mode for stunts, right? Because you have to shift into a mindset of like where you basically, you get to a deeply calm place because you literally, nothing else matters and you understand that, that for this moment in time, you have to put everything you have into making sure that you do everything for this to work. It's a different, different level of mindset, right? Because your life is on the line for this moment. And it's so, so much easier when you're facing it and you go, go, go, go, you know?

• 33:26Rob Dyrdek?

  And in this one, so as I did it and fought back up and then I want to get out of the water, I want to get back up, you know, all this. It wasn't as bad, right? So it was like, it was like, okay, it got up pretty good, like that didn't, you know, it's still water, you know, I got spun around, but it wasn't too bad. Okay, let's, let's try to get a bigger one, right? Like, so you get into that zone. And now the problem was, I got a bigger one and one right behind it. So not only did I get annihilated, but then as I was like trying to find the surface, another one came down and now I'm so deep and have no idea where the surface is.

• 34:09Rob Dyrdek?

  And, you know, believe it or not, this is a viciously vivid memory, just out of death. Wasn't trying, hey, you've got to remember this, yeah. You've got to die here, you want to remember this. Hold on to this one. You know what I mean? No, no, this is like, you've like, like, eyes open, spinning, it was just all white and I just, remember, kept trying to push to what I thought was the surface and I kept going nowhere and the light kept changing and I kept trying to find what I think was the surface and it all kept looking the same regardless of where I went and I was, could not, no more breath, no more breath, no more breath, like, as far as you can hold, as far as you can hold, as far as you can hold, as far, you can't, you can't, you can't, you can't.

• 34:54Rob Dyrdek?

  And right as I like had to like pass out to take the breath like I popped right up. And then he come flying and he was so freaked out, right? Because it's all fun and games. You're Laird Hamilton, you're gnarly. You literally don't even have the gene like to even be scared of like water. You're like literally Aquaman. So you're like, of course you could do it, Rob. Like he just looks at me as like, you're a stunt guy. You could do this stuff easy. He thought I died for sure. And he just, we are done. He ripped me out of that, threw me on the back. We are done. Like he was so freaked out, you know? And you know, of course, we made that whole episode, we wrote that episode around testing your man level. And we had decided I had reached it.

• 35:35Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, you reached it.

• 35:36Rob Dyrdek?

  And the joke was like, man, you don't, you don't want to get to the edge of your man level. Cause you really, you really lose some layers of your man level if Laird's gotta give you mouth to mouth.

• 35:45Ed Mylett?

  Oh my God, yeah, right, right.

• 35:47Rob Dyrdek?

  But yeah, that, that was-

• 35:48Ed Mylett?

  I think if people rewound that and they were listening to your description of what it was like during that time. Some people feel like their life's in that place right now, man. Like they're just, everything looks the same. They can't get out of it. They can't get out of it. Really what you eventually is you just kind of surrendered, right? And then, thank God you popped up. I, I, uh, that's my favorite story, by the way, of all the stunts is to think that you, that was the one where you thought you were dead. I mean, that's, it's insane. I want to ask you a couple of things you said, cause I think that they're worthy of covering. You said earlier about your habits and routines and your rituals. And I've heard you talk about how that actually creates freedom for you. People usually think the reverse. They're like, hey, if I have all these rituals and habits and I've got no real freedom in my life. You, you would say that that's completely opposite, right?

• 36:28Rob Dyrdek?

  Yeah, well, look, I'm, I'm, the more, I'm, I'm, people call it habits, rituals, I, uh, rituals. I think it's systems, right? The more systematized, the less you have to think of, the more freedom you have to think about other things. Like, like when you're optimized, you know, you know, you feel the best when you're the best version of yourself. So the more like it is a machine and systematized for you to do it. Uh, and it's based around you. It's based around what are the things that ultimately help you? And you can, you can actually do, you know? And I would equate meditation to it. Everybody will tell you meditation is, is great. Meditation for me is impossible.

• 37:12Ed Mylett?

  Okay, you can't quiet yourself, can you?

• 37:14Rob Dyrdek?

  Can't quiet myself. I'll never be able to get there.

• 37:18Rob Dyrdek?

  It is, it is, um-

• 37:21Rob Dyrdek?

  You know, even if it's great for the mindset, like, uh, but I knew that eventually I needed to, right? And I eventually found a meditation machine, right? So, uh, what it now allows me to do is meditate every single day at five in the morning. I couldn't do it if I was just gonna sit there and try to quiet. But when I jump into my soma dome, which is basically like a giant egg with like lights and, and sound and guided meditation. It now has become an essential part of my life.

• 37:52Ed Mylett?

  Whoa.

• 37:52Rob Dyrdek?

  Because I needed, uh, to find a, something like that because that's what I needed to actually apply that to.

• 38:00Ed Mylett?

  You found your system to meditate.

• 38:01Rob Dyrdek?

  And so, you know, for me, um, if you can imagine, you're up in the morning, at five in the morning, irregardless of how you feel. Uh, you're gonna feel a lot of different ways when you wake up. And I go into that machine for mindset only. It is like, I just think about everything I want to achieve and how it looks when it happens. And every single layer and level and you pop out of that thing and you are, you're just in a different energy, right?

• 38:27Ed Mylett?

  Of all the people I've had on the show, you've maxed out the most areas. And so I know when people are listening, it's like, okay, what, how does this person think? Like, this is the guy that is on ridiculous, this is the, the Robin Big guy, this is the, you know, and now you're like, nah. I remember we had a mutual friend, I won't say who it is, it was a very well-known dude. This is a long time ago too. And your show was on in the background, I was at his house and I'm like, this dude's hilarious. And the guy checked me, he goes, just so you know, he's not just hilarious, this dude's special, this dude's like a freak. He's like a super, super successful guy, is a business guy. I'm like, yeah, right. Then I started to research and like, oh my God. Now, having the conversation, I like, I get it, you know, I understand why. Let's talk about Brianna for a second though.

• 39:05Rob Dyrdek?

  Sure.

• 39:06Ed Mylett?

  So, you said something, man, that's just like, blew me away. Cause I think it's true in business, it's true in family, it's true in fitness and everything. You said that you were kind of one kind of a dude, live in a certain way. And that you knew that you needed to become a certain version of you in order to attract the spouse, the mate, the life partner that you wanted in your life. And I think that's true, like in business, we have to become that person too. So, tell them about how you did that and what you were thinking.

• 39:35Rob Dyrdek?

  You know, I, I would, I would almost equate it the same way that I was saying earlier where I was just doing all of this, like, different stuff, thinking that one was gonna show me the way. I, I would think that I, I'm. Was thinking like, eventually I would find the right woman that would make the right man, you know, like Make you the right man. Right, you know what I mean? Like that sort of idea. And I just knew that, that the same time of sort of this, this revolution of mindset of like, no, you need to start to be the person that you want to be.

• 40:14Rob Dyrdek?

  And I think that ultimately, it allowed me to, to create the narrative and, and the storyline of like this, if the perfect woman for me should love the way that I am, not wish that I could change to be the way they wish I was, if you will, right? And to me, I tried to be, to create that in all aspects of life. So when I did finally found her, cause God brought her right to me, you know what I'm saying? It was like, man, I'm not, it was like, like I did a year of like really in this like deep mindset, kept telling every one of my friends, you have got to, you have got to

• 40:59Rob Dyrdek?

  be like this, if you want to find great love, you've got to prepare yourself for great love, which, I mean, I was like preaching it. And they were just, so when she showed up, they were like, it worked. It wasn't like, it wasn't like, oh Rob, like he's a, I preached it so loud and so pure to like every single one of them and how they needed to act and if you really wanted to. And it was, it was, I kid you not, every single one of my friends, I had preached it so much that when like I would introduce her, it happened. You know what I mean? Like I like, it really like, like, can you believe it? Like, and I, and the trippiest thing about it is

• 41:42Rob Dyrdek?

  You know, you, there's all these expectations and thoughts and excitement that comes into like thinking you met the one, right? Now, let reality set in, right? Like, oh, it's this, and imagine now the opposite is the reality of your love and life is actually 10 times better than you could have ever envisioned when you laid out the most perfect scenario.

• 42:09Ed Mylett?

  You're such a good guy, too. You know, the other thing you won't say about yourself, but everybody that knows you that knows me is just, the first thing they don't tell me is about your brilliance or your success. It's not the first thing they tell me. I say, he's just such a good man. He cares about people so much, and that's why this is so real.

• 42:22Rob Dyrdek?

  And which is ultimately, you want that. You know what I mean? Like, you also like, like, you want that to be part of your reputation and ultimately why people respect you. You know what I mean? I want to be respected for, like, being like the man, the father, the husband, the family man, like, someone working. I want like, to be respected for the way that I live life and the type of person I am as opposed to uh, what I simply achieved.

• 42:53Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, yeah, I think you are. I think you're becoming that, and I'm proud of you, and we're just getting to know each other. I want you to do one thing for me, though. I want them to know this about you. I think all people should be, I think people matter, things don't, right? I have that philosophy, and I think you're amazing at like, creating moments. And I'm not talking about like, shark attacks and jockeying a horse or anything. I'm talking about like, life moments, like, you're conscious of creating moments. So, within this structure of your life, which you are, like, in your businesses, you're very systematized, you're very, you need that, you, you want that, yet you have this complete freedom to have all these magic moments. So, like, just real quick, I want to go through a couple with you that I just know about. Like, your first date with Brianna wasn't even normal. Didn't you like, go rescue?

• 43:37Ed Mylett?

  Puppies or something on a first, like, is that right?

• 43:40Rob Dyrdek?

  Yeah, look, so look, I mean.

• 43:42Ed Mylett?

  You take this for granted, that's not a normal first date.

• 43:45Rob Dyrdek?

  Look, no, you don't, no, that wasn't, it wasn't intended to be that way. It was, you know, just, just taking a shot, right?

• 43:52Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 43:53Rob Dyrdek?

  And we had, we had, we met via DM on Twitter.

• 43:58Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 43:58Rob Dyrdek?

  The modern way that love formed. And she was posting about like these, like, you know, big thing that had been going on is like this kennel was getting, they're euthanizing all the dogs in Bakersfield. And so, you know, I was texting her and, you know, asking her, you know, would you like to hang out this weekend, you know, what do you have in mind to do? And so I was thinking it was in Ontario or somewhere close. I was like, let's go rescue these puppies, we can drive out there. And I'm like, ah, it's like six hours away, but I still, you wanna know what? I was thinking we take a helicopter to Bakersfield, rescue these puppies, you know what I mean? Just being all like, you know, slick and funny, so funny.

• 44:44Rob Dyrdek?

  And like a half hour later, she was like, sure. Or no, she was like, perfect. And I'm like, what? I'm like, that was kind of a joke. And then I gotta, can somebody get me a helicopter?

• 44:55Ed Mylett?

  Oh my god.

• 44:56Rob Dyrdek?

  And we never spoke on the phone, anything, like, you know, first time we met was like, you know, like, picked her up and drove straight to the airport and jumped in a helicopter and got to know each other by flying to Bakersfield to rescue some puppies. And look, and I was so deep, and now we're in a moment, okay? Now we're in a moment and throughout that flight, I was like, not even a question, this is who I meant to marry and spend the rest of my life, so it's instant for me. So I'm like, since this is so instantaneous, I'm like, we gotta get a puppy to remember this by. But it's still like first date, like you still wanna try to get this puppy into this helicopter right now?

• 45:37Rob Dyrdek?

  Like, like the fact that we did not actually rescue a puppy that day is still something.

• 45:43Ed Mylett?

  So you did not get a puppy that day?

• 45:44Rob Dyrdek?

  We did not.

• 45:44Ed Mylett?

  But then like you repeat this, like these moments, like, and by the There's dudes listening, oh, I can't afford a helicopter. Just do something special, man.

• 45:50Rob Dyrdek?

  Yeah.

• 45:50Ed Mylett?

  Just find a way to make a moment, make a memory, right? Take a walk.

• 45:53Rob Dyrdek?

  Yeah.

• 45:54Ed Mylett?

  You know, do something.

• 45:54Rob Dyrdek?

  Look, I went, yeah.

• 45:55Ed Mylett?

  You just took another helicopter ride on your anniversary, though.

• 45:57Rob Dyrdek?

  Yeah, much sketchier one that she was not happy with, like when we get in this tiny, where I was like, I didn't even like, think about the first one, we was such a long trip, it was a more sizable, manageable one, we get in this like, somebody's backyard copter, we take over there. But look, again, it's, let's go have fun.

• 46:17Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 46:17Rob Dyrdek?

  Like, I am, my success is not predicated on trying to achieve some sort of financial milestone that I can do anything other than live an amazing life. And being able to surprise her with a helicopter trip to Catalina, you know, having the kids taken care of and like, she doesn't know what it is, and then like, oh, then this super unique adventure where we land on the top of a mountain, I don't know if you've ever been there, but you gotta land at an airport in the sky at sixteen hundred feet, then take a forty minute drive down a sketchy road to get to the town. Super weird, and driving by bison, because they did a movie in the twenties, left all these bison over there.

• 47:02Rob Dyrdek?

  It was just this.

• 47:03Ed Mylett?

  It's Catalina, right?

• 47:04Rob Dyrdek?

  Yeah.

• 47:05Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 47:05Rob Dyrdek?

  It's like, have you ever, have you ever been to the, okay.

• 47:08Ed Mylett?

  I've ever helicoptered over.

• 47:09Rob Dyrdek?

  Look, I've never been there, I don't even know what it was, but for us, that should be what life's about.

• 47:14Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 47:14Rob Dyrdek?

  It's like, go on, go experience just a twelve hour adventure. You know what I mean? We left at four, came back at eight the next morning, had to take our daughter to the pediatrician, I had to go do meetings all day, right?

• 47:25Ed Mylett?

  That's amazing, though, how you navigate these different spaces.

• 47:29Rob Dyrdek?

  And it's such a fun, great experience, and I think not only do I set the precedent for it

• 47:37Rob Dyrdek?

  in our, in our life, and I'm, you know, whether it's like, every, every occasion I try to, to put that level in.

• 47:46Ed Mylett?

  You do it every morning.

• 47:47Rob Dyrdek?

  Into it.

• 47:48Ed Mylett?

  You do it every morning with your little ones, right?

• 47:50Rob Dyrdek?

  And like, and I wanna add those experiences long term for the kids, too. You know what I mean? Like, so that there are moments that they can look back and, and that, you know, their dad is, you know, I'm not a normal dad, you know, I'm a little bit nutty, you know, and, and that. How that ultimate, you know, I'm pretty disciplined and militant with the children from a structure standpoint, which does include full-fledged, full-scale singing every single morning at like the highest level, dancing. Sometimes I'll make him just like dance before he gets out of bed, you know, like, and hit him with the positive reinforcement of like been drilling in his head over and over. He's happy. I'm happy, I'm happy.

• 48:31Rob Dyrdek?

  Strong, strong, smart, smart, healthy, healthy. And just self-belief, right? Of just you can do anything because you believe in you. Say, I believe in me, I believe in me, right? It's

• 48:46Ed Mylett?

  It's amazing.

• 48:47Rob Dyrdek?

  It's, let's give this them this beautiful house of love and peacefulness and then just try to

• 48:53Ed Mylett?

  And belief though.

• 48:54Rob Dyrdek?

  To have belief in themselves and help nourish that. Cause at the end of the day, it's the only way you ever do anything, right? It's like even when people call it experience, experience is just gaining knowledge to believe that you can go achieve something at a higher level, right? And, and you're only, your pursuit, why you stay in lanes that you fully understand? Because you believe you can do it because you understand it well enough, right? And when you take that step out to learn something new, you, you have to be sitting there with, with some doubt on whether or not you could do it because you've never done it before. You don't have a foundation of belief. But if your life is about taking risks and you

• 49:38Rob Dyrdek?

  believe that you can figure anything out along the way, you take that leap into that new thing in a system of how you create belief to make sure that you can irregardless of whatever that may be.

• 49:51Ed Mylett?

  That's amazing. People watching this, two of the more successful entrepreneurs under the age of 50. In a room together. And then like, you know, what do you do with your families? He gets up every morning and sings with his. I dance with my daughter every morning. I show her a move in the nineties every morning. I told you that. And you do your sayings with your kids and mine with my son. As you're a leader, you're a gladiator. You're the greatest of all time. He's been hearing that since he was a little boy. My daughter is that she's a superstar and she can do anything. Hugs, not drugs. I do these sayings. Everyone, they're, you know, they're at the age where they roll their eyes now, right? But the fact is, we both do these things where we do this wacky crap with our kids. And but what I want to talk about, there's so much, so I'm gonna go longer. If you're okay with that, right? So you, you also have been successful because you do this for other people too.

• 50:35Ed Mylett?

  And so there's this great story that I think there's so many lessons in about the deaf couple. That I want everyone to hear this story because what you did with it is, one, you were trying to help people. And then you repurposed a mess and made it an unbelievable change for your own family. And so the lesson before he tells you the story, because I want you listening for the right stuff is, one, his heart, what he wanted to do, that sometimes there's shocking events that take place. But then the most important thing is you repurposed this mess and did one of the most spectacular things you could ever do for your own family through it. So tell him this story.

• 51:08Rob Dyrdek?

  Man, you're digging deep right now. Man, so, you know, super fans, right? Stalker level, right? Everything that I would do, this, this, this deaf couple would show up to, right? And I, you know, I've, I've always been a big fan of embracing stalkers, right? Where like, you know.

• 51:26Ed Mylett?

  You embrace stalkers, okay.

• 51:27Rob Dyrdek?

  You know, it's just like you, you humanize yourself like when you, when you're just a normal person. Like a stalker puts you on like a pedestal till they talk to you. Then they're like, well, this is just like a normal person. Now, these guys were just so sweet, right? Just the like greatest couple. And, and I, you know, had a public birthday party at a club. And of course, he shows up and I know these guys don't have that much money. He presents me with a, with a Yacht Master Rolex, right? And I'm like, dude, I'm not, you, you have heart, you have heart. You know, I'm like, dude, I am not take, I wouldn't even take this from one of my friends unless they were super rich.

• 52:08Ed Mylett?

  Right, right.

• 52:08Rob Dyrdek?

  Right, but no, no, like take this, go give this to somebody, right? Like go take this back, like spending, he says, I'm not gonna take this. Then he handed me a note saying, will you help us? Get engaged, right? And, and so I thought, you know, they're, they're such a great couple, all this stuff, so. And they're such huge fans, so I wrote the whole episode around them coming to the Fantasy Factory. And then I got ordained as a minister and was gonna do the, the entire thing. And went through the whole thing, surprised her, put her on the zip line, sent her down on the bottom. Said, will you marry me? You know, I learned sign language. I was like, you know, love, you know, whatever it is. And she literally said, no.

• 52:51Rob Dyrdek?

  And I was like, I was like, like, I mean, none of us anticipated that. We're like, why would he allow this to happen if there was even a shadow of doubt? And she was like, absolutely no. Like, and we're like, what? And then it was like, and look, we had all of us hidden behind like the world's biggest skateboard with like confetti and all this stuff. And then finally he was like, please for TV? And she was like, okay, yes. And then like, we like, ah, like shot it. And then it was like, okay. And, and so, um, you know, there we have it. It's over, right?

• 53:29Rob Dyrdek?

  So, and you can call this an incredible moment. I still feel a little bit guilty about by driving someone's destiny.

• 53:40Rob Dyrdek?

  But my sister had been dating her, her, her boyfriend for a while and it was pretty serious. And I called my mom and said, man, do you think that they would be willing to get married on TV? Like, she's like, oh, they said they were just gonna go to, um, you know, I asked if they talked about getting married. You know, would they, oh, they're just gonna go down to the courthouse. So I thought it was like a, a thing. So I called her, I said, totally crazy idea here, but. If you guys are down to get married in the next three months, I'll pay for everything and do everything. And we'll do a show and she's like, um, you know, I felt, I felt guilty after I talked to my mom.

• 54:22Rob Dyrdek?

  So I'm like, ah, I can't be like manipulating. What if they, you know, whatever. So it ends up they never even spoke about marriage. The first time they talked about it was like, Rob just called and said he thought, if we want to get married in the next three months, he would pay for everything. So I called him, I'm like, like, and so she calls me, he's like, oh, I've never even, we've never even talked about it. And when I said it to him, he just walked out of the room, right? And I'm like, oh my God, here, like, what? I'm like ruining people's lives, trying to make TV. I called him, said, look, man, I'm not like, I don't want to like mess with your life. This is your life. But like on some real shit, man, if you want to do, we'll make you an amazing wedding if you want to do this, you know? And they committed to doing it and imagine, we're talking about moments, I don't even, even as you were,

• 55:05Rob Dyrdek?

  even as you were like bringing up, I'm like, what's he talking about, right? Like, and this is, you became a minister. You built a, basically a giant church in your fantasy factory, brought everyone in your family and fully presided over a wedding to marry your sister on your television show, you know what I mean? Which is so buried deep in the back of the memories, like, and as I'm even saying it, and now I'm thinking about myself, like walking down the aisle with like them singing and like my parents crying and like it, like actually doing it, um, is, is a remarkable thing. And think about it too, is like I have one sister, I only have one sibling. So it's like for it to,

• 55:48Rob Dyrdek?

  not only be such an amazing moment for our family, but then them having my nephew and, and all of this. And me feeling guilty of like manipulating like their reality ultimately ended up being this incredible thing that we as a family have forever. And for my parents, uh, you know, now, uh, we have this, you know, both of us have kids and it's like, This great for all holidays, how incredible it is to be together and have all these kids. But again, another memory, taking me down memory lane.

• 56:28Ed Mylett?

  But there's all these lessons. There's the lesson of first, you're trying to do a good thing for this couple. Then you repurpose the mess. Then you do this thing for your sister. They end up in a home that you get for them too. And they end up with their family there. You're being humble about that. And then the other part of it is on top of that is that you've built this great platform so that you can do great things for your family. There's all these ancillary benefits to becoming successful that people forget about. So.

• 56:50Rob Dyrdek?

  And look, and when it comes to that, I'm, to me, it's taking care of my family at like, on all levels, right? Like, and when you find success, like, that's really is one of the greatest things that you can do, right? And I don't talk about it like very often, but it's, it's really, I know what peace they have because of it.

• 57:15Ed Mylett?

  You got it.

• 57:16Rob Dyrdek?

  And it's like, it's not that much for me to put them in a position to where they don't ever have to stress ever again. And I know how much of a release that is and how, what that can potentially do to their health long-term. Their just mindset long-term, their self-worth long-term, you know, so.

• 57:37Ed Mylett?

  There's all these benefits to becoming successful that you don't think about when you're becoming successful. Is the bottom line, and you're doing that. All right. And we want to talk about success because we're running out of time.

• 57:46Rob Dyrdek?

  Sure.

• 57:47Ed Mylett?

  You have invested in a lot of businesses that have worked and you've started a lot of, Rob and I are partners in a business called Outstanding Foods that we're both excited about, right? And how do you evaluate a business?

• 58:00Rob Dyrdek?

  I curate the individual first and then the idea, right? Like, the idea has to have some unique value proposition for a clearly targeted consumer. And all of that has to ultimately triangulate and to decide whether or not it goes through my system.

• 58:22Rob Dyrdek?

  To systematically build it into a successful business that can be sustainable and profitable. Right, like I, I just love creating ideas with other individuals as opposed to investing myself. Right, and, and long term, you know, my legacy I want to be is the hundred fifty to a hundred businesses that I helped create, launch and drive to an exit or to profitable sustainability.

• 58:52Ed Mylett?

  And that's through the Deardick Factory.

• 58:54Rob Dyrdek?

  Deardick Machine, yeah.

• 58:55Ed Mylett?

  The machine, so you call it the Deardick Machine. So listen to this, you guys, he said something earlier about these doer diers. Can I read your quote on there? So I think this is telling, he says, doer diers are the ones who have the fortitude, work ethic, grit, determination and unwavering self-belief to turn their passions into reality. They see it, plan it, believe it, then do it. And you talk a lot about belief. How important is belief, do you think, just like in life and in business?

• 59:19Rob Dyrdek?

  I mean, it's everything.

• 59:20Ed Mylett?

  It's everything.

• 59:21Rob Dyrdek?

  It's everything because, you know, and I've said this before where I feel like you only quit when you lose belief because when you don't, you just keep like adjusting and moving and moving around and what can you do? And even in business, it is so essential because you're gonna start with a plan, but that's not gonna be the plan you end up doing. It just doesn't work out that way. Now, there's gonna be tons of little things that you adjust along the way, but it has to still believe in the first milestone you're trying to hit, right? And, and really, you know, business, you know, people, you've all, I know you've seen the, you know, successes like this, you know, people think it's this, but it's really like

• 1:00:03Rob Dyrdek?

  this, but really it's ten of those things and it's the chaos in between each one, right? Like, cause the milestones are real and the end goal is, right? It's just how you get to those milestones is what changes and, and to me.

• 1:00:18Rob Dyrdek?

  You don't wanna get into, you, when you build a business with someone, especially if you have built a business, you know that there is so many layers deep, you could never plan for, you could never even like talk through or ever think about, you have to deal with them as they happen. And it's only people, I've, I really, you know, I have six sort of core values of the do or die. And I used to think relentlessly consistent was the most important, you build trust. Uh, and everyone around you, when you're super consistent, you, uh, you're executing at a high level. But I, I'm really leaning into like perpetually optimizing where you're always getting better.

• 1:00:59Rob Dyrdek?

  And seeing, seeing how things can be better is, is really one of the most important attributes to finding success in a business. Because you, everything is changing constantly and you have to constantly, even when it's working, be looking at how could it be working better or else you're going to get left behind, right? And so to me, um, all of that, uh, against a great idea, great unit economics, uh, high growth, uh, uh, industry and opportunity and all this, all this different stuff, uh, does not work if there's not a single individual that's filling in all the holes as, as the entire process is happening. Uh, and, and ultimately that requires somebody that, that believes in the vision

• 1:01:45Rob Dyrdek?

  and believes in themselves to execute it irregardless of how heavy it may get at times, right? Because we have been referring to it as the valley of death, right? I did, I kept three businesses when I launched the machine in 2016 and I've launched 18 builds, right? And that two and a half years and there's this pure constant. Almost every single one of these businesses, whether it's protein, uh, outstanding foods, alcohol, uh, luxury accessories, jewelry, like whatever the, the business is, all of them needed around, uh, the same amount of capital in the valley of death to survive, right?

• 1:02:26Rob Dyrdek?

  So it costs a little bit of money to come up and test an idea, get your minimum viable product. But then, uh, that first year and a half where you find the customer and can find sales and, and really, it is the most treacherous waters and, um...

• 1:02:45Rob Dyrdek?

  It is where they all die, right? And so to me, what I'm, what I'm, what I'm learning above all is make sure you got enough capital in the Valley of Death. I equate it to, you know, I would, I've launched a couple of businesses with lean capital going into the Valley of Death. And it's like Rob with like two water bottles, like, let's go, we got this, trust me, trust me, I know it's a straight shot. And we're over here dying, like, we're out of water, right? Versus like, you know, someone like Outstanding Foods and Bill, he's got, he's so, he's got like three or four umbrellas. Like, he's got, he's pulling like a full water tank behind him. He's like, you know what I mean? It's the, the, the difference, but every single one of these businesses experiencing the same sort of chaos that it takes to get something off the ground.

• 1:03:29Rob Dyrdek?

  And it's this beautiful thing for me, right? Now, I don't, I don't, I don't want to go through that fire because I enjoy being a guide. I like to say I'm your sherpa through the Valley of Death, right? But I, because I, I want to be there for you and help create this, but it's still on you to, to, to, to get us to the, uh, to the, to the greenlands, right? So, uh, but it's, I, I enjoy being there with them and guiding them through experience and, and being a part of it. And that's the, um, the life's mastery and the clarity of like, of how I even, uh, look at business as a whole.

• 1:04:10Rob Dyrdek?

  I had to realize, like, I operated a lot of businesses and I had to like, when I, when I really did a deep dive on what type of businesses do I want to do and what experience, what do I love doing the most in business? I had to realize like, God, you actually hate operating it. Like, you love creating it, but as it gets going, you don't want to have, you just want to like advise it and be a part of it. And really, sometimes you just want it to go on without you. You just like being there in the beginning when it's so exciting. And I had to basically build a business that does that. And the beauty of that is, is it gives you all the reward of being the co-founder. You get to shape the idea and come up with the name and be there on what it is. Then you get to see the product for the first time.

• 1:04:54Rob Dyrdek?

  You're like, ah, then when you like start getting sales, it's like, ah, like, it is the, the most thrilling and exciting part of business that I want to be my life's mastery, but. I will be judged by the liquid dollars that I create. I will be judged by the IRR, right? And to me, I want to look at the amount of capital I invest. What is my return over what time? The people that come along with me, that invest along with me, what is their return over what time? Because at the end of the day, I want all my business friends. I want our success in Outstanding Foods to be equated to a single return number that you're like,

• 1:05:38Rob Dyrdek?

  dang, we did eighty-seven percent IRR over the last five years. Like, I want that to be my marker for other entrepreneurs and business people of what that success is. And then it is a goal, I keep a billion-dollar bill in my wallet, right? And it is, I would like to create a billion dollars in liquidity by creating fifty to a hundred businesses that when they exit, I make ten to twenty million dollars off of. That is a clear, clear-as-day path to creating a billion dollars in liquidity, right? For you. For me, just me, just me, right?

• 1:06:20Rob Dyrdek?

  And so, like, that, you know, it allows me now to have principles of when I go into a business, right? So now it's like, okay, I need to own this certain amount of it. I need to know that in order to get it off the ground, I can create the minimum viable product for between a hundred and three hundred thousand. I always want to finance that myself because then I want to be the co-founder, get co-founding shares, finance that, so now I have a huge equity position. Then make sure it's capitalized the right way in the seed stage. And if I participate in that, again, I'm gaining that much more equity, but make sure it has the proper capital to get to growth capital to create a return, right?

• 1:07:05Rob Dyrdek?

  So this now, and in every business that I do, I wanted to be able to have two years of runway by raising one point five million to two million dollars. And the burn can be seventy-five thousand to a hundred and fifty thousand a month. It can get to sustainability within eighteen months.

• 1:07:24Rob Dyrdek?

  God, that tightens a box up real quick, right? And then I have founders that want to build the sale at a clear number. We start in the end on what that number will be. And it doesn't mean you got to do it there, but at least everybody now is fully aligned with what the return potential of the opportunity is. Because even though I love creating and being a part of it, it's still, I want to be judged by the scorecard of the return.

• 1:07:53Ed Mylett?

  Yeah. It's interesting when I watch you, there's two things that energize you, like, complete shift in you.

• 1:08:00Rob Dyrdek?

  Yeah.

• 1:08:01Ed Mylett?

  Family and this topic right here. It's not, and I'm not, it's not that the other things in your life, I don't see passion in front of the camera, behind the camera, all that. You're literally a different dude when you shift into family mode and this mode right here. Like, to me, now we're in the go zone for you. That's what it feels like. Am I right about that?

• 1:08:17Rob Dyrdek?

  No, you can feel it.

• 1:08:18Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, you can feel it.

• 1:08:18Rob Dyrdek?

  Because I get all fired up.

• 1:08:20Ed Mylett?

  Well, that was a master class. That was, that was a master class in how to be an entrepreneur, how to invest in a business. By the way, also, how you should be pitching your business and what savvy investors are looking for if they're going to capitalize you. And so, and it's also knowing your lane, too. It's like, there's not 800 different types of businesses. You know the type, the amount of capital, etc. You're not going to put $50 million into one. And I love that right there. And I learned that when you and I talked. And just so you know, he's so, I wouldn't call it persuasive. I believe so much in what he's saying that after about 15-minute phone call in one of these businesses, I made the decision that I wanted to be involved with you because I

• 1:09:01Ed Mylett?

  believe so deeply in what your machine is creating and what these principles and systems are, and, you know, and that includes you. So, we're running out of time. Like, brother, like, I don't know how long we've been going, I don't really care because, like, there's so much in here. But I want to ask you a basic question. Because I kind of get it. I got it. I got this massive heart in front of me. That's what I see. I see this guy with this massive heart, heart of a champion. And I don't mean that hokey either, like, this dude just wins. I'm winning when I'm 16, I'm winning when I'm 18, I may fall down when I'm 24, but I'm going to win again, then I'm going to remake myself again. I'm going to win in TV, I'm going to pitch shows, I'm going to be the talent on the show, I'm going to have these experiences, I'm going to start businesses, I'm going to start a family, I'm just going to fucking win, right?

• 1:09:43Rob Dyrdek?

  Feels good.

• 1:09:44Ed Mylett?

  That's what I love, right? That's what I love. And it's like, and I still don't feel like I've refined it, and now I'm going to show you how to optimize your life, right? So that's my version.

• 1:09:54Rob Dyrdek?

  Yeah.

• 1:09:54Ed Mylett?

  But if someone was just to ask you, I'm just curious. This is a hard question, man, but like, someone said, "Why are you successful?"

• 1:10:02Rob Dyrdek?

  Yeah.

• 1:10:03Ed Mylett?

  Like, just, "Why are you successful?" Like, "How the hell are you this way?" Like, "Do you know yet?" Do you have, have you touched on some of it? "Why are you successful to the extent that you have been so far?"

• 1:10:15Rob Dyrdek?

  Well, and look, I, I'm, I think there's a couple of things, right?

• 1:10:19Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 1:10:20Rob Dyrdek?

  I'm, think of the foundation of what I was built on, right? And, and I think a lot of people find drive in early, uh, trauma and, and life circumstances and things that kind of buil- build the engine, right? And, and I think is, is, for me, the engine was built off of finding early success and a foundation. It's very different, right? So, you're, uh, it embeds in your core that this is how you're meant to do it. And then ultimately, the effort and everything that you put into,

• 1:11:03Rob Dyrdek?

  your life is based off of mastering you. And I wasn't in denial of, I, I got caught early on of people saying like, "When's enough enough?" Right? Like, when is like, like, you know, like, "Why do you gotta do all this stuff?" Like, what is, and, and, and by not listening to that, but, but taking it as like, "What are, what can you do to just be happiest?" Right? And my pursuit was simply energy. I started first with like, "What are the things that you actually love to do and give you the most energy?" That energy shift? When I got into that, like, that's real, like, cause that's really what I love to do, right? That energy shift with the family, because it's like,

• 1:11:46Rob Dyrdek?

  it is like, those two pieces are really what the future of my existence is and what it is. And, and I think by simply pursuing,

• 1:11:58Rob Dyrdek?

  that sort of core aspect of what gives you energy the most and then build, designing a life around that is why I've been able to achieve the level of success that I have. And it's also...

• 1:12:15Rob Dyrdek?

  Man, there's some luck in there, man. You know what I mean? Like, I, I am not, uh, I work really hard, constantly learn, am super grateful, but, but man, if I didn't like, you know, how planet Earth was built in the chaos of this solar system, like, there's only one in here that's, that's, uh, nice and protected, that's got oxygen, that's making liquid water right in the, the, the Goldilocks zone, right? Like, I still think there's a, a ton of that for me that I have never, I think I probably, like, took for granted in 23, 24, that led to that zone, and, and now I just never have again.

• 1:12:59Rob Dyrdek?

  And it's, it's the idea that, you know, the harder you work and the more prepared, and the more your mindset is leaning into, you deserve to be successful, and you will be successful.

• 1:13:14Rob Dyrdek?

  Things really start to happen for you that are, are, are hard to explain, you know? But again, it goes back to, to belief. I will, and I deserve, you know? And, and when you, it's how I feel at my core. Like, I don't like, like, I'm, that unwavering self-belief is like, really like, there's highs and lows with the pursuit, but the pursuit is clear and gets clearer every day, and, and although it's not clear how exactly it's gonna happen, no doubt in me that it's going to happen, you know?

• 1:13:47Ed Mylett?

  Man, I don't want this to end. Cause it's so good for me, it confirms things about me, and I, I think that your answers are so deep, they're so profound. I just consider you unbelievably interesting. And the thing I probably admire the most about you is you're so self-aware. The people I like the most are really self-aware, like, there's, it's really interesting. You have this unbelievable balance, I just want to acknowledge this in you, you have this unbelievable balance of real confidence and no ego.

• 1:14:13Rob Dyrdek?

  There's an ego in there.

• 1:14:15Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, but there's a confidence. Well, I don't know. I mean, I feel like I'm rooting for you. Usually when a guy has a big ego, I'm kind of like, "I don't know." Like, I feel like I root for you, and I know the audience felt this way too. I feel like we haven't finished everything I want, and so we're gonna continue this. I have an idea for a roundtable with you and me and a couple of other people. But I'm really grateful for our new friendship.

• 1:14:35Rob Dyrdek?

  Yeah, no.

• 1:14:36Ed Mylett?

  Because you inspire me.

• 1:14:37Rob Dyrdek?

  Yeah, look, and I'm grateful to be here. This is an inspiring location. It's like, like I said, getting to Orange County is like going to Mars.

• 1:14:47Rob Dyrdek?

  But it was well worth the trip, and I knew it would be a great conversation. And ultimately, I do think there's so much of us that's aligned from a mentality and a personal lifelong optimization that we will be sharing stories of growth together for the rest of our lives.

• 1:15:06Ed Mylett?

  I believe that too, man. I really believe that. Thank you so much today, brother.

• 1:15:09Rob Dyrdek?

  Appreciate you, man.

• 1:15:10Ed Mylett?

  Enjoyed it so much. Hey, everybody. I tell you that on this program, I'm gonna bring you people who have maxed out certain areas of their lives. I've probably never brought you somebody who's maxed out more areas of their life than today. And I hope you've enjoyed. If you have, please spread the word about the program. Make sure you subscribe. If you're listening to this on iTunes, subscribe to the YouTube channel. Leave some comments. And also remember, every day on Instagram, I run the two-minute drill because I want to engage with our community. And on there every single day, when I make a post, within the first two minutes of my main feed, if you just make a comment within the first two minutes, hashtag max out, we pick a daily winner. You get max out gear. Am I wearing a max out hat? I am. Max out gear. My book signed. Maybe sometimes a coaching call with me, some of my guests. And so, please make sure you do that. If you miss the first two minutes, just make a comment every day. We pick a winner of the week who just comments on everything.

• 1:15:55Ed Mylett?

  So make sure you do that. I hope you enjoyed today's program. God bless you, and max out.