Brad Lea - Thinking Bigger Than Yourself

This week Ed has Brad Lea on the show. Brad is a self-made entrepreneur with over 25 years in sales & marketing and has trained and motivated thousands worldwide. Ed and Brad dive into the history behind the successful version of Brad we see today. From being in an orphanage at the age of 2 to mastering his sales techniques through different job positions and life scenarios, this interview will fascinate and motivate you! 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 moving? You stall, 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.

• 1:34Ed Mylett?

  Welcome to the Ed Mylett Show. Fired up today. I've got one of the great young entrepreneurs in the United States here with me that I've been following on social media for a long time. We've got a bunch of mutual friends. And so I'm honored to have the great Brad Lea here today. Brad, thanks for being here, brother.

• 1:47Brad Lea?

  Man, I'm honored. I'm honored.

• 1:49Ed Mylett?

  It's great to have you, man. We've been having great conversations off camera. Very interesting conversations. And I'm hoping that transfers to on camera now too. So many of you probably follow Brad on Instagram or on Twitter through social media. And you've seen the unbelievable posts that he makes. I think he's one of the most creative and innovative, unique people on social media. I've told you that.

• 2:07Brad Lea?

  That's interesting. I want to drill into that.

• 2:09Ed Mylett?

  Okay, we will. I'll tell you why it's unique too. But so I encourage you to begin to follow him too as well if you're not. But what I want to do today is get to know you better. And then there's all these young entrepreneurs out there, salespeople. I consider Brad to be an expert with how to teach people how to become more productive entrepreneurs. And especially. Great at teaching people how to sell and close and persuade people too. And so I want to pick your brain on some of that stuff today.

• 2:32Brad Lea?

  Okay.

• 2:32Ed Mylett?

  Brad's built an amazing company. We're actually at his headquarters today called Lightspeed VT. It's an unbelievable virtual technology that he's got that you see a lot of people on his platform often that you would know very well in personal development. But I want to go back prior to that.

• 2:46Brad Lea?

  Let's do it.

• 2:47Ed Mylett?

  So how does Brad Lea become Brad Lea? So you grew up where? You grew up in the Pacific Northwest?

• 2:52Brad Lea?

  Yep.

• 2:52Ed Mylett?

  Did you grow up in a super successful family? Like entrepreneurs around you, wealth around you? How did you grow up?

• 2:59Brad Lea?

  No, no. Originally, we were kind of, I wouldn't say poor, but low middle class at best. We lived in a little tiny house on a hill surrounded by bigger houses. It was, it was, it was kind of unique because, you know, there's a lot of stories from that that I've, that I've learned back in those days that I can now see the lesson. Where there, I didn't really realize. But no, we grew up a lower middle class.

• 3:27Ed Mylett?

  You did? Mom and dad married and you lived in the same house?

• 3:30Brad Lea?

  My dad and mom were divorced and then my dad remarried. So I had my stepmom at that time.

• 3:36Ed Mylett?

  Okay, so you lived with your dad and your stepmom?

• 3:38Brad Lea?

  Yeah. Well, originally, we all went to an orphanage. And then my grandmother, bless her heart, told my dad to get off his ass and come get us because we were basically about to get shipped off to different families.

• 3:50Ed Mylett?

  You're kidding me?

• 3:51Brad Lea?

  No, when my mom and dad divorced, my dad said, screw you. And my mom said, well, here, take the kids. She kept the baby. So me and my brothers and sister went to an orphanage and was about to get shipped off. And then my grandmother told my dad, you better go get them. So fortunately, he came and got us.

• 4:05Ed Mylett?

  Whoa, what, how?

• 4:06Brad Lea?

  I was, I was two.

• 4:08Ed Mylett?

  You're two, so you don't really remember this happening necessarily?

• 4:10Brad Lea?

  My brothers and sisters do, but I was two. My brother was probably seven.

• 4:16Ed Mylett?

  Wow.

• 4:17Brad Lea?

  And then in between.

• 4:19Ed Mylett?

  Have you covered that before?

• 4:20Brad Lea?

  No, but you want something new, don't you?

• 4:21Ed Mylett?

  I do, I want stuff new. I always make them cry. I'm crying a little bit, that's what my goal is.

• 4:24Brad Lea?

  Come on, come on.

• 4:25Ed Mylett?

  So, that's interesting. So, you're this little guy, you're growing up, you live with your dad, mom's sort of in a different place. Were you always, were you an athlete? Like, were you a competitive, like, did you have this background of winning in competition your whole life? Or, what do you like?

• 4:38Brad Lea?

  Well, actually, yeah. I didn't know it at the time, but I excelled at sports. Like, for example, I joined a swim team, and I, first year, joined a team called The Guppies. We had to, you had to start there. And my, the only sporting event my dad ever came to watch was my first swim meet with The Guppies. And I beat the other swimmers so badly, they disqualified me.

• 5:03Ed Mylett?

  Really?

• 5:04Brad Lea?

  They said, "He, he shouldn't be in this league." And my dad basically told them, "Ah, you know, you guys are stupid," and he left. And he never went to another sporting event of mine. But I excelled at swimming, at first. And then, uh, cross-country, did that for a minute, and, and, you know, kind of beat the competitors without even really trying.

• 5:23Ed Mylett?

  So you're a natural athlete?

• 5:24Brad Lea?

  Ran a 440 in junior high.

• 5:27Ed Mylett?

  A 4-440?

• 5:28Brad Lea?

  4-440 in junior high.

• 5:30Ed Mylett?

  Wow.

• 5:31Brad Lea?

  I mean, like, people say bullshit.

• 5:33Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 5:33Brad Lea?

  Or bullcrap.

• 5:34Ed Mylett?

  That's okay.

• 5:36Brad Lea?

  And it's true. It's, it's the dead ball's truth. But I didn't have a lot of parental guidance when it came to, you know, sticking to something. So, ultimately, I ended up, you know, quitting over something stupid, and no one made me go back. So I didn't, I didn't finish with sports.

• 5:52Ed Mylett?

  A lot of people relate to that, though. A lot of people had some potential when they were young, they didn't have a lot of supervision. They end up, you know, kind of flaming out on their first dream. So you had all these gifts that you end up not using. So, after high school, you go to college, or you?

• 6:03Brad Lea?

  No.

• 6:03Ed Mylett?

  You didn't?

• 6:04Brad Lea?

  Dropped out of high school.

• 6:05Ed Mylett?

  You dropped out of high school?

• 6:05Brad Lea?

  Beginning 11th grade.

• 6:06Ed Mylett?

  So you're a high school dropout who's built this massive company?

• 6:09Brad Lea?

  Yeah, baseball.

• 6:10Ed Mylett?

  Yeah?

• 6:11Brad Lea?

  Either home runs or strikeouts. There was no in-between.

• 6:13Ed Mylett?

  There's no in-between with you?

• 6:14Brad Lea?

  No base hits.

• 6:15Ed Mylett?

  So you're a high school dropout, and then you end up becoming this, how's that happen? So, I know this, just to speed something up here, you end up getting into the sales business eventually, right? And so how long were you in sales? What type of sales were you in? And is that when you first started to get your taste that, "Hey, I can control my time, I can make some money"? How old were you? Like, when did all that start?

• 6:36Brad Lea?

  It's seventeen, you know, I couldn't decide between movie star and and a job. Everyone was telling me, you know, get a real job.

• 6:44Ed Mylett?

  Weren't you an actor, though? You were also an actor, right?

• 6:46Brad Lea?

  Yeah, I technically still am. I'm just unemployed.

• 6:48Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 6:49Brad Lea?

  So if you guys are looking for one, you know, I'm a thespian, trained thespian, by the way. But at around seventeen, early seventeen years old, I went and got a job with a forest service company. And I thought I was gonna be fighting forest fires. Sounded cool.

• 7:06Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 7:06Brad Lea?

  Went around bragging like I'm cool, paid like twenty-two dollars an hour. First day on the job, realized I wasn't a forest firefighter. I was the dude that had a ten-pound bag of water put on my back. And I went and squirted water on stumps that were smoldering, so they didn't reignite a fire. They called it a piss bag. Got poison oak and went and basically said, hey, I got poison oak. I'm not gonna be able to come in tomorrow. And they're, they laughed and said, yeah, you'll be in tomorrow at four AM. That's part of the job. You know, everyone had poison oaks supposedly. So that's ultimately when I said, dude, this manual labor shit?

• 7:39Ed Mylett?

  That's for you.

• 7:39Brad Lea?

  I'm not into it.

• 7:40Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 7:41Brad Lea?

  So I opened the newspaper to get another job, and there was an ad for selling cars.

• 7:45Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 7:46Brad Lea?

  So I went and applied for selling cars at seventeen and basically lied to get the job because you had to be eighteen.

• 7:54Ed Mylett?

  Seventeen years old.

• 7:55Brad Lea?

  Yeah, and you had to be eighteen. So I got the job at seventeen, lying, which again, you learn. People say you can't change. I think you can, by the way. Anyway, BS'd my way into the job.

• 8:07Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 8:08Brad Lea?

  Went around bragging to everybody. I was seventeen, so the other salesmen were haters because I was kicking everyone's ass. And they told management, so management brought me in and said, how old are you? And I, and he said, don't lie to me. I said, I'm seventeen. He said, well, you lied and said you were eighteen. I said, yeah. He said, how many cars you got out? I said, like twenty-six. And at this time, the closest person might have had ten. And he said, when do you turn eighteen? I said, like another two months. He said, can you keep your mouth shut that long?

• 8:37Ed Mylett?

  Of course, I don't want to lose the golden goose.

• 8:39Brad Lea?

  Yeah, so I started Excel, you know, they gave me a car to drive. You got to wear a suit. I was, I was home. No poison oak, no hard work. A pen, you know, and the way I looked at it, this individual.

• 8:53Brad Lea?

  Paid for all the cars, paid for the building, paid for the advertising, gave me a pen and let me have my own little business.

• 8:59Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 8:59Brad Lea?

  Without investing a dime. That's the way I looked at it. And so I was aggressive and started selling.

• 9:05Ed Mylett?

  Talk about for a second, because I don't think most salespeople think that way, especially if they're not in something where they do have some ownership of it. But you treated selling, this is important by the way, because I did too young. I started out just in the selling business too. So but you treated selling like it was your own business.

• 9:20Brad Lea?

  Well, it is.

• 9:21Ed Mylett?

  Elaborate, what do you mean?

• 9:22Brad Lea?

  When you're on commission, you know, you don't have a limit. So if you're gonna give me cars, let's use cars or art, because I've sold art, cars, RVs.

• 9:33Brad Lea?

  Ridiculous vacuums.

• 9:35Ed Mylett?

  Really?

• 9:36Brad Lea?

  Candy bars. Yeah, I've sold everything. Matter of fact, at six years old, there's a story about selling candy bars that is pretty funny, but.

• 9:44Ed Mylett?

  Give me it, I want to hear it.

• 9:45Brad Lea?

  Well, I was six years old and they and they gave out the boxes of candy, world's finest chocolates.

• 9:51Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 9:51Brad Lea?

  You remember those?

• 9:51Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 9:52Brad Lea?

  They were delicious. They were.

• 9:55Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 9:55Brad Lea?

  I mean, still to this day, I think they're probably the best actual chocolate with almonds you can find. So I went out and I started selling candy bars and all the other kids that couldn't sell their candy bars, normally they would ship them back to the company and that was it. Well, they just gave me all of the candy bars everyone else couldn't sell and I literally sold every candy bar that the school received. And.

• 10:17Ed Mylett?

  Like how, knocking doors or?

• 10:18Brad Lea?

  Yeah, I went and knocked on doors, they'd open the door and I'd have it behind my back. And when they answered the door, I would say, do you have the phone number to a good roof repairman? And they'd always be like, no.

• 10:28Ed Mylett?

  At six years old, you're saying?

• 10:29Brad Lea?

  Six years, and I developed it all by myself. I don't know how. But I said, do you have the phone number to a good roof repairman? They said, no, why? And I said, because when you taste one of these, you're gonna go through the roof.

• 10:43Brad Lea?

  And people were just buying.

• 10:44Ed Mylett?

  Little six-year-old little face saying that out of the can say no.

• 10:46Brad Lea?

  And people were just buying boxes at a time, you know, I'll take 20 of them, so. I learned selling then.

• 10:52Ed Mylett?

  Okay, I'm gonna point this out, what you just did. I told Brad before we went on the camera, because you just did it again, that he has an interesting way of communicating. Do you remember when I told you this earlier? And you just did it again. You started it at six years old. And this is why I want you to follow him, because a lot of people speak the same way. They'll say, here's what I'm gonna tell you, then they tell you. Brad's communication style is it ends up a punchline. So, you don't know where you're going, and then boom, you land somewhere. Whether that's a joke, or a sales pitch, or a close, or a statement. You watch when you watch him, and you, just so you know, you did it at six years old. You start with the candy bar behind your back, right?

• 11:24Brad Lea?

  Yeah.

• 11:24Ed Mylett?

  Do you need a roof, you know, and boom, then you come back at him. So you always take them down an interesting road when you communicate. It's very unique to this dude with the way that you talk. It is, and it's why I think your social media stuff's interesting. Because it's not like, let me tell you what you need to think, and then you say it. You start out somewhere, and I don't know where we're going, then boom, there's a punchline, and we land somewhere. And when I say punchline, it may not mean something funny. It just may mean you take me where you were gonna take me. It's almost like going around the corner, and I find the prize.

• 11:50Brad Lea?

  Yeah.

• 11:50Ed Mylett?

  And that's what you were doing when you closed then, too, so that's awesome, by the way. You started that at six.

• 11:55Brad Lea?

  Started at six, you know.

• 11:57Ed Mylett?

  So let me ask you a question. You're this good closer at six, you become a great car salesman, young. You've gone on to sell other things and been successful. Then you built this huge training thing that we're gonna talk about in a minute. But I'm a salesperson, which by the way, the first thing is, the first step is admitting it.

• 12:12Brad Lea?

  Yeah.

• 12:12Ed Mylett?

  Right, that I actually close, I actually sell, right? Give me a couple things that someone out here just got into sales, or is in it and struggling, right? Like, what's a couple real keys of being great at closing? One, you've said you own it like your own business, because not everybody does think that way. But give me a couple things. What makes a good closer, a good salesperson, a good persuader?

• 12:33Brad Lea?

  The ability to listen, first of all. Because a lot of salespeople really don't listen, and they're not even prepared to ask good questions in order to get good answers. So I'll give you an example. When I used to train people, I would carry around a quarter, a dime, and a nickel. So, they can put this on the screen if you're editing this. But pretend this is a quarter, okay, and this is a dime, and this is a nickel. Now, I'm gonna ask you a question, I want you to listen, okay? Bob's mom has three kids. The first one is Nicholas, the second one is Demetrius. What's the third one's name?

• 13:14Ed Mylett?

  I don't know, what is it?

• 13:16Brad Lea?

  Okay, well, I'm gonna have you listen again.

• 13:17Ed Mylett?

  Okay, do it again.

• 13:18Brad Lea?

  Bob's mom has three kids. The first one is Nicholas. Second one is Demetrius. What's the third one's name?

• 13:28Ed Mylett?

  I don't know.

• 13:29Brad Lea?

  See, that's because you're not really actively listening.

• 13:31Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 13:32Brad Lea?

  Now, actively listen to me.

• 13:33Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 13:34Brad Lea?

  Bob's mom has three kids. The first one is Nicholas. The second one is Demetrius. What's the third one's name?

• 13:41Ed Mylett?

  You got me, I don't know.

• 13:42Brad Lea?

  Listen closely.

• 13:43Ed Mylett?

  Stop it, give me the answer.

• 13:45Brad Lea?

  Bob's mom.

• 13:46Ed Mylett?

  Bob's mom. It's Bob.

• 13:48Brad Lea?

  There you go.

• 13:48Ed Mylett?

  It takes me a while.

• 13:49Brad Lea?

  See, no, it doesn't take you a while, you're not listening actively.

• 13:52Ed Mylett?

  I'm struggling with my IQ issues. But I got it eventually.

• 13:56Brad Lea?

  I guarantee it's not that, and people do it all the time. They're not listening actively because we're having a conversation and you're not trying to sell me anything.

• 14:06Ed Mylett?

  Right.

• 14:07Brad Lea?

  But when someone says, "What makes the best salesperson?"

• 14:10Ed Mylett?

  Were all of you just watching, going, "What the hell is wrong with me?" Or were any of you with me on that? Like, is at least 5% of you with me that you did not know Bob's damn name?

• 14:20Brad Lea?

  I'd say 90%.

• 14:21Ed Mylett?

  Because what it is, the trick is, there's a damn N, a D, and a Q. So you're throwing me off with the Q.

• 14:25Brad Lea?

  Yeah, well, that's why I'd have a dime, a quarter, and a nickel.

• 14:28Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 14:28Brad Lea?

  So people are trying to, because they're not listening. So if you're, if you're, if you want to be great in sales, first of all, you need to learn to listen closely and actively. And then, secondly, learn to ask the right questions.

• 14:40Ed Mylett?

  Wow, that is, that is such an awesome illustration right there. My whole audience now just unfollowed me because they know how low my IQ is.

• 14:47Brad Lea?

  Well, watch this, well, you can edit it.

• 14:49Ed Mylett?

  No, I want to leave it, it was awesome.

• 14:51Brad Lea?

  95% of the people I do that with never get Bob. Sometimes they'll get it on the third one. Occasionally on the second one. Hardly ever, they're listening.

• 15:00Ed Mylett?

  No, I'm leaving that in there, that's too damn good.

• 15:02Brad Lea?

  However, knowing the right questions to ask, you know, when people start selling things, like if I say, you know, "Go ahead and sell me that", you know, people will start saying, "Oh, it's quality leather and it's gonna last a long time." And that's not really selling, that's telling. Selling, I have to know what it is about you that values that. And I do that through questions. So if I were gonna sell you that, I wouldn't just start selling it. Like, most people, that's what they'll do. Like, next time you talk to a salesperson that says they're top salesmen, say, "Okay, well, sell me that chair." And they'll say, "Oh, this chair is constructed this way, and it's the greatest fabric, and it's gonna last the best." And they're not asking you, you know, "Who's the chair for?"

• 15:43Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 15:43Brad Lea?

  You know, "Are you replacing a chair?" You know, "What do you like about the chair you're replacing? What didn't you like about the chair you're replacing?" So by the time I explain that chair, I can provide value and explain to you why it's valuable. Now, let's say, for example, you tell me that chair is so quality, and it's gonna last forever, and I find out you're getting a divorce, and you have to provide your ex-wife a replacement chair.

• 16:06Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 16:07Brad Lea?

  I just unsold you the chair, not even knowing it. Why? 'Cause I didn't ask you some questions and listen to the answer.

• 16:13Ed Mylett?

  Well, that's the big thing. Cardone said this to me. Grant Cardone and I were talking about this very topic off-camera also, and he said, "'Cause it's what you just did with me. It's not just asking the question, it's getting the answer." So a lot of people ask questions, but they never get the answer. You forced me, finally, to get me to get the answer, right? And that's what a good closer gets also. They don't just ask the question, they actually get the answer. I think some people think, "All I gotta do is ask a bunch of questions." Well, no, you have to get the answer, and get them actively listening. That's why that is really powerful, and why I wanna absolutely leave that in there, so. Very, very good.

• 16:42Brad Lea?

  You wanna be good in sales, listen and ask good questions.

• 16:46Ed Mylett?

  Okay, so, that's huge, by the way. Very, very good. So, I wanna be good in sales. Then there's another layer of people out there saying, "I wanna be good at training salespeople. I wanna build a team of people. I could be in the real estate business. I could be in the insurance, I could be in the car business. I could have my own donut shop, but I gotta get people out there selling donuts." Whatever it is, right? What are some of the keys in developing people who can persuade and close? There's, you talk about these four steps that I absolutely love, in learning how to close or retaining information, etc. What are those, what are those steps?

• 17:16Brad Lea?

  Well, there's four ingredients that you need to have an effective training program. A lot of companies have training programs that aren't really effective.

• 17:23Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 17:24Brad Lea?

  And the goal of a training program is to get results. So if you're not getting the result you're looking for... You know, it's not effective. So it's like making a cake, right? There's certain ingredients that you put in a cake. Leave out an egg in your cake and see what happens. Doesn't come out right.

• 17:39Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 17:39Brad Lea?

  Even leave out one little thing, like the sugar or any of the ingredients. So the ingredients in an effective training program is good content. Gotta have good content. Repetition, which most people lack.

• 17:54Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 17:55Brad Lea?

  Because training isn't something you did, it's something you do, right? You go to the gym to build muscle, you know anything about that?

• 18:00Ed Mylett?

  A little bit.

• 18:01Brad Lea?

  Did you go lift one and then go home?

• 18:03Ed Mylett?

  No.

• 18:03Brad Lea?

  No, it takes repetition. Same thing with actual training. So you need good content, repetition, practice and role play and accountability.

• 18:13Ed Mylett?

  I love that.

• 18:13Brad Lea?

  And most companies, they'll get, you know, they're very, they hold everyone accountable, but they don't practice. Or they practice, but they don't have any repetition.

• 18:22Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 18:23Brad Lea?

  You gotta have them all.

• 18:24Ed Mylett?

  I so love that because repetition allows you to be reflexive under pressure, right? If you've done enough reps, when pressure comes up, the question, stress, the concern, your responses become reflexive rather than you having to think about the answer, right? And the way you develop that is through role play. Not telling someone, right, we both agree with this, not telling me how to do it, but getting me to actually do it is how I build that muscle. So that's a huge tip, like you say that often. So even I know your own appreciation for it isn't, people that are listening to this don't know that. They don't know that I gotta hold people accountable, but I can only hold them accountable if they've done role play, if there's repetition. So all of these are requisites in building a team of people who can move something forward. And I want you to help these folks here because you've, not only are you a great sales guy, you're a great businessman, you're a great entrepreneur.

• 19:09Ed Mylett?

  That's how I introduced you, right? I think one of your skills is closing, one of your skills is teaching it, but you've built a great company, right? And there's skills that go with that. What do you think, you're on social media, you hear people ask you questions all the time.

• 19:21Brad Lea?

  Yeah.

• 19:22Ed Mylett?

  Why do you think so many people out there are struggling with getting their businesses really off the ground and going? Like what are some of the main things that you think, you're hearing from people? Is it what people, worrying about what people think about them? Is it lack of execution, work ethic? Like what do you think are some of the real core things that hold people back from building their businesses?

• 19:43Brad Lea?

  In my opinion, mainly it's because.

• 19:47Brad Lea?

  A, they were taught wrong. Their belief system is backwards. And then, B, they don't want to be uncomfortable. They don't want to put in the work. Why doesn't everyone have abs? It's not secret information on how to get abs. You can get abs, I can get abs, how come we don't have them? Because it's frickin' hard work. It's uncomfortable. I don't want to do it. Well, you gotta make those choices. And sometimes, you know, not having the knowledge will be the reason. And the other reason is they don't want to put in the work.

• 20:19Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 20:19Brad Lea?

  They want to use excuses.

• 20:21Ed Mylett?

  Yeah. And so, let's go to that excuse thing for a second. This is the hard question because I say that same thing, right? And you may not even have an answer for this, I don't know. But if I don't have the information, I think that, here's how I feel about it. You've been trained wrong, you can go get trained correctly, right? There's information, like you said. How to get abs, it's not a mystery, right? The world, did I say this all the time? The great thing about business now is it really does come down to your ability to execute and work because there's not a shortage of information on almost anything anymore. Fifteen years ago, information was the key thing. Now, information's a dime a dozen. Everybody's got information, right?

• 20:51Brad Lea?

  Huge.

• 20:51Ed Mylett?

  It's execution, it's work ethic, it's busting your tail. See you on social media, they see you at the World Series, they see you with all these different toys and things that you have. But to this day, at this time, you're forty-eight years old, right? You've got a great company, you've got a great life, you've got a beautiful family.

• 21:05Brad Lea?

  Thank you.

• 21:05Ed Mylett?

  What's work ethic look like?

• 21:08Ed Mylett?

  For you. Give them an idea.

• 21:09Brad Lea?

  Well, I come in every day.

• 21:11Ed Mylett?

  Every day?

• 21:11Brad Lea?

  Yeah, I'm here on weekends. Well, first of all, the building's open eight to five, Monday through Friday. I'm usually here eight to seven, Monday through Friday. Sometimes I'm a little early. Just depends on the day. But I'm here every single day. And I work weekends. But I also work at home. And I also work when I'm on vacation. So, to me, I'm working twenty-four seven. I just don't think it's work, though.

• 21:36Ed Mylett?

  I know. Because you love it.

• 21:38Brad Lea?

  Yeah, because again, I mean, I would do this if I didn't get paid.

• 21:41Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, yeah. Would you? You would.

• 21:44Brad Lea?

  Absolutely. Because, believe it or not, what's crazy is, most people don't know my real motives here. See, I think personally, I want to be able to fix something in the world before I go. So, I want to be able to fix, like, poverty, like...

• 22:02Brad Lea?

  There's no dude on the planet or female that should feel what it's like to not be able to afford a Christmas present. That's just me. You see bums on the street and you and you think like, how can they not make enough money to to have an apartment? The answer is they don't want to, which those guys can can hang out and do what they want. Or they don't know how to and and surprisingly, I'll bet you the majority is they don't know how to and the reason they don't know how to because our education system's messed up. We force our students to learn a curriculum that has technically no bearing. I mean dude, George Washington had wooden teeth. So so what? How come they're not teaching me how to leverage my credit? You know, I had bad credit till I was about twenty six years

• 22:45Brad Lea?

  old and it cost me a lot of time and money. If why weren't they teaching me these things in school? And they weren't figuring out personality styles. They weren't figuring out interests. They they were forcing us to sit and learn what we supposed to learn.

• 22:58Ed Mylett?

  How to communicate.

• 22:58Brad Lea?

  Right. So part of the technology that we developed allows the curriculum to adapt to the student.

• 23:05Ed Mylett?

  I love that.

• 23:05Brad Lea?

  Rather than forcing the student to adapt to the curriculum. And that's what we do today in our schools.

• 23:10Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 23:11Brad Lea?

  Even colleges, believe it or not. You know, your electives. Well, here's your electives. Choose one. Well, what about what if I don't like those? What if my talent lies over here, but you have me forced over here? So I want to fix poverty through fixing education. And education, you need to reverse it. Like my my kids, you know?

• 23:31Brad Lea?

  They'll lecture at school and then send them home with homework and questions. Why don't they lecture from at home and then I send them to school with the questions?

• 23:40Ed Mylett?

  Great idea.

• 23:40Brad Lea?

  Why are they sending home questions about calculus? Like, go to go to school and and ask the questions?

• 23:46Ed Mylett?

  Right.

• 23:46Brad Lea?

  How do we fix that?

• 23:47Ed Mylett?

  Right. So can I tell you what you just described?

• 23:50Brad Lea?

  Yeah.

• 23:50Ed Mylett?

  Your why, just so you know.

• 23:52Brad Lea?

  Is it?

• 23:53Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, that's your why. Let me help you out. Everybody who works hard has a why. And so when he goes back and watches this interview, he'll remember that the next time he tells you that.

• 24:00Brad Lea?

  So my why is I want to I want to fix poverty.

• 24:02Ed Mylett?

  Well, it's a pretty damn big why. Yeah. So you have a huge why. You're just it's so ingrained in you, you don't see the value of it. But I'm telling you that people that lack work ethic. Do lack a why. They don't know what their why is. It's just so natural for you, brother, right? But we have to think back of like how people really start out. And they don't know their why. What is my purpose? What is my cause? What is my passion? You're so talented. You're so far down the road. You have these huge whys. You want to be wealthy. You want to grow this company. But you also have this big why, like you'd like to fix poverty. That's not like kind of a small reason to get out of bed in the morning, right? And I've got to know you better. And that's a real thing. Like you really love this. You love what you're doing for people. You love the applications of the technology. It's a huge why. And the other reason I asked you about work ethic is.

• 24:46Ed Mylett?

  I wanted them to hear your schedule because it even took me aback. I said, you're in here Saturdays? You go, hey, I'm in here on a Sunday, man. And I elevated my respect for you because when I said, when he said to you that you lack work ethic. I think people think, no, I don't. And I think everything in life is compared to what? Right? Like you may think you're working hard. You entrepreneurs out there that got your five, 10, 15 million dollars, but compared to what? Compared to who? Right? So we all may struggle for some work ethic problem. Like I think there's plenty of quarterbacks in the NFL for years that thought they were hard workers. But not compared to Tom Brady.

• 25:18Brad Lea?

  Yeah.

• 25:19Ed Mylett?

  A bunch of basketball players, I talked to Grover, they think they're hard workers? Not compared to Kobe. There's a bunch of entrepreneurs that think I don't have a work ethic problem until they hear your schedule.

• 25:26Brad Lea?

  Well, I mean, I could work, I could work way harder than I do.

• 25:29Ed Mylett?

  That's what makes you you, right?

• 25:31Brad Lea?

  But it's true, like, you know, at seven o'clock, you know, I, I, I value some time with my kids.

• 25:36Ed Mylett?

  Sure.

• 25:36Brad Lea?

  So I, I make those choices. But again, to me, I have a saying. There is no key to success. It's a combination.

• 25:44Ed Mylett?

  I've heard you say that.

• 25:45Brad Lea?

  Yeah, because it's a combination and everyone has their own combination. You, what you think success is may not be success for me and vice versa. I know people that think success is they can go get laid a thousand times. Like dude, that's old. Like that's not success to me. Success is not hanging out, waking up with a hangover with three girls. I know people that do that and they feel cool and they think I'm successful. It's not successful to me. Everyone has their own idea of success. I think the first time or the first thing you need to do in order to achieve your success is look inward and figure out what that is because you can't get it unless you know what it is. And most people won't. So when I go home at seven, I know I could work till ten.

• 26:28Brad Lea?

  I mean, in my business, I could write you content, right? So I could be working literally 24 hours a day, but I don't.

• 26:36Ed Mylett?

  Sure.

• 26:36Brad Lea?

  So my work ethic is not that good compared to what it could be or should be.

• 26:40Ed Mylett?

  Right.

• 26:41Brad Lea?

  If I want to accelerate where I'm going, but.

• 26:44Ed Mylett?

  But like Tim.

• 26:45Brad Lea?

  You gotta weigh it out.

• 26:46Ed Mylett?

  Of course you do. Like Tim Grover said in my interview with him, he said cleaner never thinks he's a cleaner. He always thinks that or she always thinks she can do more. So you are of incredible work ethic, but like any.

• 26:56Brad Lea?

  Do I?

• 26:56Ed Mylett?

  Yes, and like, yes, you do. And you're like, when I interview people, especially when I met you today, I think there's very successful people oftentimes have no idea of their strengths and giftedness. Like, brother, you're incredible communicator. Like what I'm telling you about the way you drop the punchline with people, I don't know anybody else who does that. Like, there are other people who kind of talk like certain, you don't, you have your own style. It's why I think people should be following you.

• 27:18Brad Lea?

  I need to learn this.

• 27:18Ed Mylett?

  I think the four steps you talk about in becoming a competent professional at persuading, most people don't know that stuff, man. You take for granted that it's so good. I think your why is massive and I think it's so massive and so deep in your heart and soul, you discount the importance of it. Then when you say it out loud, you're like, oh, that is a pretty damn big why, right? Your work ethic's tremendous. I want entrepreneurs to be featured, these things that you do that make you extraordinary because you also run with extraordinary other people. So it seems normal to us at this stage, right? But if we went down to any other sales business, all the other entrepreneurs in this center here, they're not working your hours. Their content's not as good as you. Their technology's not as good as you. And so compared to what your work ethic, right? That's what I want you all thinking about. And I think that's something that you're great at.

• 28:02Ed Mylett?

  The other thing you have, a couple more things I want to ask you. Well, I think it's a great business conversation too for people to kind of sneak in, listen in on, but how important is it to you to have some people around you in your associations? We're talking about a couple of mutual friends of ours and neighbors here and stuff like, is it, has it been important to you to try to add people to your peer group that are just friends of yours that stretch you a little bit, that push you? Has that ever been something you've thought about or it just sort of happened? And does that help you?

• 28:29Brad Lea?

  Well, I mean, absolutely.

• 28:33Brad Lea?

  Absolutely.

• 28:34Ed Mylett?

  Like, give me an example of, of somebody.

• 28:37Brad Lea?

  Well, listen, I mean, just like a house, right? If, if you've got the most expensive house in the neighborhood, you're pulling up the value of the other homes. Make sense?

• 28:48Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 28:50Brad Lea?

  I don't want the most expensive house in the neighborhood, because I want to be one of these that are getting the value pulled up, because your, your houses, which is probably the most expensive, these houses are pulling your house down.

• 29:03Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 29:04Brad Lea?

  You're pulling these house values up. So I look at that in people. I want to be, I don't want to be the most expensive house in, on the neighborhood. I'm hanging around guys that are, that are making me look like I don't have work ethic. Or I'm not to that level. Why? Because again, it's just...

• 29:23Ed Mylett?

  They're pulling you up.

• 29:24Brad Lea?

  Not only that, but like, they just think different. You know what I'm saying? There's people, like Tony Robbins. He wants to feed a billion people.

• 29:31Ed Mylett?

  Yep, yep.

• 29:33Brad Lea?

  Like, who thinks like that?

• 29:34Ed Mylett?

  Yep, right, well...

• 29:36Brad Lea?

  I want to hang around people that have bigger, loftier goals than, hey, I want to make a hundred thousand so I can buy, you know, whatever I want to buy. Like, what about the rest of humanity? How do you fix it?

• 29:48Ed Mylett?

  When you thought of, um, when you said that your goal about poverty and the education system, the first person I thought of was Tony. And I also think of, in terms of getting people together too, I thought, what a great, I know you know Tony as well, but like, what a great pairing for you as well, like, because you've got similar goals and he could pull the house values up, so to speak.

• 30:05Brad Lea?

  Well, he's a machine.

• 30:06Ed Mylett?

  He is a machine. He is, he's one, I just did a engagement with Tony yesterday, here in town, and he wasn't feeling good and just pulled off four and a half hours.

• 30:13Brad Lea?

  His work ethic makes mine look ridiculous.

• 30:15Ed Mylett?

  And mine. And by the way, and that's why us all associating together benefits us, but those of you that are watching this that live in Missouri, or Chicago, or Australia, or South Africa, you've got to find people where you are that pull your house value up. That's a wonderful way that you explain that. Get around some people. Introduce yourself to people. Start to try to associate with people who'll pull you up. Not always you pulling everybody else up, or worse, like you said, having people around you that pull you down. Cause we've all got these detractors and haters that are pulling us back, telling us we're out of our mind, don't try this. How do you deal with them? What would you say to people? Cause you know, that's a huge thing today, right? Haters, detractors, all these people trying to change their conditions, trying to become a better version of themselves. And everyone's going, no, I like the version you are now. You make me comfortable. That's really what they're saying.

• 30:59Ed Mylett?

  Don't become this new you, cause man, I like the one you got. You don't make me so uncomfortable, right? What would you say to them? What would you say to them that they're catching that kind of flack and heat from people?

• 31:09Brad Lea?

  Well, again, I mean, this is why I don't really coach and mentor people because the answer is so simple. I'll feel like I'm ripping you off.

• 31:16Ed Mylett?

  No, I'll give them the answer.

• 31:17Brad Lea?

  The answer is don't listen to them.

• 31:20Brad Lea?

  And then they're gonna say, how do I do that? Like, how do you not listen to somebody? You, you, you pay no attention to it.

• 31:27Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 31:27Brad Lea?

  Like if someone said to me, dude, you're turning into a dick because of this, this, or this. Well, if I was insecure or I thought that's the case, then maybe it would affect me. But I know what I'm doing and I know that I have integrity and I know that I keep my word, more importantly to myself.

• 31:46Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 31:46Brad Lea?

  Which is, which is real key. And so I already know it's, it's nonsense. So anytime someone starts to talk negative, I'll just, you know, let it go by like, didn't even, didn't even faze me.

• 31:57Ed Mylett?

  Have you always been that way or did you develop that?

• 31:59Brad Lea?

  Well, when I was a kid, you know, I used to lie, cause like I said, we lived on that house.

• 32:04Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 32:05Brad Lea?

  And, you know, I felt that we didn't belong in that neighborhood. It was a weird neighborhood. Like we had a little tiny crappy house, which ended up being a big house. But anyway, little crappy house around all these other richer, well, rich people, not richer. The Richardson lived over here, a doctor lived right here, the McKay's, who owned McKay's supermarkets lived here. Then my dad worked at Bohemia, which is a mill. Worked, lived right here in a little shitty house. So I used to BS everybody, not BS them, that's a nice way of saying, I used to lie because I didn't think I belonged there. And I learned very quick, I used to say my dad owned Disneyland. Yeah, and and I would just lie to the other friends, the little kids in my neighborhood.

• 32:49Brad Lea?

  And what happened was, all the other kids eventually alienated me, and I thought, I learned, at that age, don't lie, be real, because here's what happens, I was cool for a minute, and then they found out I was lying, and I was hated for a while, lot, lot longer than I was liked. So that taught me to keep it real, because if you're not authentic, and you're not real,

• 33:16Brad Lea?

  nothing's gonna last, you know what I'm saying? So like, if I try to come across so Ed likes me, I want Eddie to like me, man. So I'm gonna come across cool and tough, and, and you know, you end up liking me. It's only temporary, because as soon as you realize I'm not, it'll fall apart, and that causes even more misery.

• 33:34Ed Mylett?

  You said something so huge, you said, I keep promises I make to myself first.

• 33:39Brad Lea?

  That's key.

• 33:40Ed Mylett?

  And I talk about that a lot, too, because I think that's the, that's the, um, foundation of confidence, is that you can trust yourself, you've kept promises you've made to yourself over and over and over again, and you build a reputation with yourself.

• 33:51Brad Lea?

  See, I never thought of it, but that, I like that.

• 33:53Ed Mylett?

  Well, you do, you build a reputation with yourself, and so then your reputation with other people isn't as important to you, right? Because your reputation is, is not what matters, your character is what matters. Your reputation's gonna change with what, way, way the wind's blowing, right? But most people are so concerned with their reputation with other people, because they don't have one with themselves, which means they don't have self-confidence. And you nailed it, their self-confidence comes from the fact that they have a habit of keeping promises they make to themselves, so I totally agree. It's funny how we both get to the same place differently, right? Like, we, we really do believe the same things, it's real interesting how we end up getting there. So, last thing, by the way, he talks about keeping it real, and that's his tag, the Real Brad Lea, right? That's where we find you on Instagram, is that the same on Twitter, too?

• 34:35Brad Lea?

  Same everywhere.

• 34:36Ed Mylett?

  Okay, so the real Bradley, is that why you put that in there? Cause you're gonna keep it real? Or is there another guy with that name? So you thought, I better pick the real one?

• 34:42Brad Lea?

  Well, there's a couple of reasons. That, that, that's the main one.

• 34:45Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 34:46Brad Lea?

  But, but the real reason, cause again, I keep it real.

• 34:49Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 34:49Brad Lea?

  Uh, is someone had a Twitter handle when Twitter was just coming out. And they were, they had my name. I knew them. They got my name on purpose and were, was tweeting stupid shit like, man, I get all the ladies. And they were trying to be funny.

• 35:06Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 35:06Brad Lea?

  And so I'm like, dude, knock that off like that, you know, I, I, I'm known a little bit and that's gonna make me look stupid. And they were, that's what made them laugh about it.

• 35:14Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 35:14Brad Lea?

  So I had to go, I called Twitter and they wouldn't give me Bradley. They said, sorry. And so, um, I had to get the real Bradley.

• 35:21Ed Mylett?

  So you got it now?

• 35:22Brad Lea?

  Well, that's, I did it to battle the fake Bradley, which was my buddy tweeting stupid shit about me.

• 35:28Ed Mylett?

  No way, that's crazy.

• 35:29Brad Lea?

  And then ultimately, I used to train people, but it was always virtually. Because after I got the virtual training system and figured out that it was, worked way better to train people virtually than live anyway. Uh, so I started training a lot of these sales companies with my virtual training. And every time I showed up there live, they'd be like, oh, it's the real Bradley. Or people would say, hey, Bradley's here. And they're like, what do you mean? Like on screen? Cause I, you know, it was the virtual Bradley. And then when they saw me, they'd say it was the real Bradley.

• 35:58Ed Mylett?

  Well, I enjoy the real Bradley.

• 36:00Brad Lea?

  Thank you.

• 36:01Ed Mylett?

  I like you.

• 36:02Brad Lea?

  Well, I appreciate that.

• 36:03Ed Mylett?

  And I'm learning things from you today. And, uh, I learned them off camera today too. I've really enjoyed our time, man. And I know people that'll listen to this have as well. And so I want you following him. And you know, I always, I have someone on my show, always wanna promote something for them. But I just gotta be honest with you. I think the way he produces things, the way he articulates things, it is real. It is sort of blunt, as you've heard today. But I think he'll take you on a journey if you follow him on social media. That's both entertaining, but also enlightening. I do want you to follow him. And if you've enjoyed my podcast, will you please rank and review it on iTunes? Would you do, would you do a brother a favor and do that? I won't charge for any of this stuff. Subscribe to edmylett.com. Submit your email, you'll get weekly correspondence from me. Go to the YouTube channel, subscribe there. Rank and review the podcast on iTunes.

• 36:47Ed Mylett?

  And again, Brad, thank you for doing this today with me, brother. I really enjoy, I feel like we maxed out our time here today.

• 36:52Brad Lea?

  My pleasure. And let me tell you something.

• 36:53Ed Mylett?

  Thank you, brother.

• 36:54Brad Lea?

  You know. I went and subscribed to your newsletter. See, this is what I'm talking about. Like, you're already doing the right thing following this guy right here. I can tell you that right now.

• 37:02Ed Mylett?

  All right, God bless you, everybody. Max out.