485 Andy Frisella: Turn Your Scars Into Strengths

"Give more than you take." - Andy Frisella If you enjoyed this episode, check out show notes, video, and more at http://lewishowes.com/485 Get more from Lewis! Get my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy! Get The Greatness Mindset audiobook on SpotifyText Lewis AIYouTubeInstagramWebsiteTiktokFacebookX

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

• 0:01Lewis Howes?

  Episode number 485 with Andy Frisella.

• 0:07Lewis Howes?

  Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, a former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week, we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin.

• 0:33Lewis Howes?

  We have a treat today. Andrew Frisella is in the house. He's a mega entrepreneur, innovator, motivator, and he calls himself a regular dude. He is the founder of Supplement Superstores and First Form International, multi-multi-million dollar companies that manufacture and sell nutritional, weight loss, and fitness products. He's also the host of the MFCEO Podcast. And boy, did I learn a lot about Andy today. He has an incredible story, unbelievable things that he's overcome. I love some of the stuff we talk about where his entrepreneur journey for the first like seven years, he didn't make any money launching his business. And all the things that he learned along the way on how to grow his business

• 1:18Lewis Howes?

  to being a hundred million dollar plus business over the time he's been doing this. Incredible stuff of what he's overcome. He's about to share with you quickly in the beginning of this interview, the things that he had to do, where he's come from, and how he's gotten to where he's at. I think it could apply to anyone listening. And what we talk about are how to use social media the smart way in your businesses, what happened to Andy in college that changed his whole viewpoint on life. It's unbelievable, the things he went through, how adversity tells you what someone is actually made of, what the zero option mentality is, he's going to talk more about that, and the difference between managing and leading a team. So for all you entrepreneurs listening, who are looking to grow a team,

• 2:03Lewis Howes?

  between managing a team at a company and growing and leading a team, what the difference is, and how to get more With any team you're on. I am super pumped about this one, guys. Make sure to share with your friends right now. LewisHowes.com/485 and tag me at Lewis Howes and Andy Frisella on social media to let us know you're listening. Before we dive in, I want to give a quick shout out to the iTunes review of the week, and this is from Prongs216, who says, "My name is Logan Meek, and I just wanted to thank you, Lewis. I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in February of this year. But because of the inspiring messages you give, I am not only determined to overcome this obstacle myself,

• 2:47Lewis Howes?

  but to also try to help inspire others affected by mental illness to realize it is nothing to be ashamed of, and it cannot prevent you from achieving greatness. You are a true inspiration and a fantastic role model." Logan Meek, that warms my heart, and just know that there is support there for you. There are people that want to lift you up and to guide you throughout this journey, as I know that adversity and that challenge cannot be a fun situation. But I love the positive mindset you have in setting up the right habits, and the rituals and routines to keep you on track to achieving your vision as opposed to going down a dark path. So, big shout out to Logan Meek, and you are the iTunes review of the week.

• 3:32Lewis Howes?

  If you guys want to leave a review and you haven't yet, and you want to get a chance to be the review of the week, go to iTunes.com/Greatness. All right, guys, get ready to be inspired and to learn so much about building a business and what it takes to grow anything with the one, the only Andy Frisella.

• 3:53Lewis Howes?

  Welcome everyone back to the School of Greatness podcast. We've got Andy Frisella in the house. Good to see you, man. Good to see you too, man. Very excited about this. We connected probably two years ago, I would say, maybe a little over two years ago. And the thing I love about you is you're such a giver, and you just reached out to me and you said, "Hey, how can I support you?" And I had my book coming out around that time and you just bought a bunch of books and you said, hey, I'll just support you however I can.

• 4:16Andy Frisella?

  Yeah.

• 4:16Lewis Howes?

  You never asked for anything and you've just been always a giver. And that's what I love about you the most and that's the way I like to approach my life. And I know it's paid off for you, you know, a thousand times over by having that approach. Your company is a, is a hundred million dollar plus company.

• 4:31Andy Frisella?

  Yeah, we do about one fifty, one sixty this year.

• 4:33Lewis Howes?

  One fifty, but who's counting, you know?

• 4:35Andy Frisella?

  Right.

• 4:35Lewis Howes?

  And, uh, but the thing I love about it is, you know, it wasn't always doing that well, you know? I think you said in the first few years, first seven years it took to get over seven hundred dollars a month.

• 4:46Andy Frisella?

  Yeah.

• 4:46Lewis Howes?

  Right? It took seven years to get over seven hundred dollars.

• 4:49Andy Frisella?

  Our first three years, we, we, uh, I mean, our humble beginnings doesn't begin to describe where we came from.

• 4:56Lewis Howes?

  Less than humble beginnings.

• 4:57Andy Frisella?

  Yeah, uh, we started out with literally, uh, twelve thousand dollars that we had from painting the parking lot stripes. Like that was our summer job, okay? And that, and, and when you're nineteen, eighteen years old, it was, it was a pretty good job.

• 5:09Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, man. Good money.

• 5:10Andy Frisella?

  So me and Chris, my business partner, we had like twelve grand. We, uh, we, we said, okay, we're gonna start a tanning salon and, uh,

• 5:17Lewis Howes?

  In St. Louis?

• 5:17Andy Frisella?

  Yeah, in St. Louis, right? And no, we were in Springfield, Missouri.

• 5:20Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 5:21Andy Frisella?

  So, uh, we were at college and, uh, one tanning bed was like fifty grand. We're like, okay, well, we've got twelve, so we can't even do that.

• 5:28Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 5:28Andy Frisella?

  So we're like, let's start selling vitamins.

• 5:29Lewis Howes?

  Uh huh.

• 5:30Andy Frisella?

  Don't ask me where it came from.

• 5:32Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 5:32Andy Frisella?

  And, um, so we, we, uh, we couldn't find anybody to rent the space to us, uh, because we were kids, we didn't have any credit.

• 5:40Lewis Howes?

  For like a store, you mean?

• 5:41Andy Frisella?

  Yeah, for a storefront. And, uh, we went around and we found this guy and he said, well, we'll rent to you for a thousand bucks a month, but you gotta pay upfront. So that took all our money. Uh, so for us to finance the rest of the, the store, we had to go get credit cards and we put everything on a credit card. We built all the shelves ourselves, uh, from, you know, stuff that we got at Home Depot and, uh, basically lived at the back of that store on and off for two years. Um, until, you know, we could even afford an apartment.

• 6:05Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 6:06Andy Frisella?

  Yeah, so it was, uh, very, very, very humble. Our first day, we sold seven bucks. It took us uh

• 6:12Lewis Howes?

  Hey

• 6:12Andy Frisella?

  Yeah, eight months.

• 6:13Lewis Howes?

  Something.

• 6:13Andy Frisella?

  Yeah, man. I mean, yeah, the second two days, the third and the second and third day, we sold zero. So

• 6:18Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 6:18Andy Frisella?

  Yeah. So seven was a big day for us back then.

• 6:20Lewis Howes?

  It's deflating, right?

• 6:21Andy Frisella?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 6:22Lewis Howes?

  You make a little, then you make nothing.

• 6:23Andy Frisella?

  Yeah, I mean, you know, and when you start a business, you think that it's just gonna come flooding in. And uh, it was a reality check really quick.

• 6:29Lewis Howes?

  You think everyone's gonna buy? You've got this great idea?

• 6:32Andy Frisella?

  Right. And, and everybody puts so much weight on their friends. Like, oh, all my friends are gonna support me.

• 6:36Lewis Howes?

  No.

• 6:36Andy Frisella?

  It's not enough.

• 6:37Lewis Howes?

  They're not.

• 6:37Andy Frisella?

  No, they're not. And it's not enough, even if they did.

• 6:39Lewis Howes?

  You know, they say they might.

• 6:40Andy Frisella?

  Right.

• 6:41Lewis Howes?

  But until they write a check or give their credit card or pay, they're not.

• 6:44Andy Frisella?

  Right.

• 6:44Lewis Howes?

  That's why I always talk about, I don't care how good your ideas or services you think it is. Sell it first. This is what I like to do. Sell something first.

• 6:53Andy Frisella?

  Right.

• 6:53Lewis Howes?

  Whether it be a service, a software, a coaching, a course, supplements. Do the Kickstarter method.

• 6:59Andy Frisella?

  Right.

• 7:00Lewis Howes?

  And see if people actually pay you for it.

• 7:01Andy Frisella?

  Right.

• 7:01Lewis Howes?

  Then you can go create it.

• 7:02Andy Frisella?

  Right.

• 7:02Lewis Howes?

  And launch it.

• 7:03Andy Frisella?

  Yeah.

• 7:03Lewis Howes?

  As opposed to like investing all this upfront.

• 7:06Andy Frisella?

  We're in an amazing time in the ability to test things.

• 7:09Lewis Howes?

  Absolutely. You couldn't do that back then.

• 7:10Andy Frisella?

  No, that was 99. So I mean, um, you know, it was either you made it work or you go out of business.

• 7:17Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 7:18Andy Frisella?

  And so uh

• 7:18Lewis Howes?

  There's no social media. There's no digital marketing.

• 7:21Andy Frisella?

  Right. And the only way that we could get word of mouth out was literally, uh, every day I got in my car, drove up and down the streets, knocking door to door to meet people.

• 7:28Lewis Howes?

  Passing out flyers or something.

• 7:30Andy Frisella?

  Anything that we could do, anything. So it was uh, very different than it is now.

• 7:35Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 7:36Andy Frisella?

  But the principles are still the same, right? You know, get people to like you, make friends, um, you know, build relationships. A lot of people rely so heavily on technology now. When, if they took it back a few steps, they could be a lot more successful.

• 7:49Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. It's all about partnerships and relationships.

• 7:51Andy Frisella?

  I agree.

• 7:52Lewis Howes?

  And you've done an amazing job with that over the years.

• 7:53Andy Frisella?

  Thank you.

• 7:53Lewis Howes?

  And something else that I love that you've done is there's so many traditional businesses that were around in 99, 2000, wherever that grew and became successful. And as digital media and online marketing and video and all these different platforms that we have became available, they didn't go and innovate.

• 8:10Andy Frisella?

  Right.

• 8:10Lewis Howes?

  With the rest of the people.

• 8:11Andy Frisella?

  They didn't transition.

• 8:12Lewis Howes?

  They stayed in that space.

• 8:13Andy Frisella?

  Right. And they're dying.

• 8:14Lewis Howes?

  They're dying.

• 8:14Andy Frisella?

  Right. Yeah, dude. That's, that's one thing that I think is, that I'm very proud of.

• 8:19Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 8:20Andy Frisella?

  Is that we've been able to build a successful company pre-social and then, and then also another company, uh, first formed post-social.

• 8:29Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 8:30Andy Frisella?

  So

• 8:30Lewis Howes?

  The superstores was the first thing.

• 8:31Andy Frisella?

  Yeah, supplement superstores. So it's a brick and mortar retail company. We still own that company. Um.

• 8:36Lewis Howes?

  And those are all over the US or the

• 8:38Andy Frisella?

  Midwest.

• 8:38Lewis Howes?

  Midwest. Yeah.

• 8:39Andy Frisella?

  So uh

• 8:41Andy Frisella?

  So, you know, but the perspective that we gained from having the, uh, the brick and mortar before pre-social allowed us to learn so many great lessons about how to actually utilize social to engage people. And, uh, it's not just, you know, hey, click a like or, uh, share a photo. You know, it's about creating real relationships through this tool. You know, I feel like a lot of people and a lot of companies now, what I've, what I observe is that they look at social and the internet and all these conveniences we have as the main way to, to connect, when in reality, the main way to connect is still going to be this. We're just going to use this as an accessory to that.

• 9:18Lewis Howes?

  To reach more people.

• 9:19Andy Frisella?

  Exactly.

• 9:20Lewis Howes?

  But if we're not, and that's why I think it's so important for people like me and you to continue to be on the phone with people, to continue to be in person, continue to go to the events where people are at, especially the bigger partners or entrepreneurs, because that's where we do deals. That's where we build the relationships, build like and trust.

• 9:36Andy Frisella?

  Dude, it, it's, it's everything still. And so many people are discounting the, the face to face, that sit down and break bread, shake a hand.

• 9:44Lewis Howes?

  You gotta do it.

• 9:45Andy Frisella?

  Dude, it's, it's still everything. It's always going to be everything. You know, the best part about social is that it's just, it's an accelerator to the stories that are told about you. You know what I mean? So it's not, it's not how you should build the story. It's how you should let the technology tell the stories that you create here, you know?

• 10:03Lewis Howes?

  No, it's powerful. And I love the, the story. I didn't know the full story and I want to hear it, that you got stabbed and this was what 13 years ago?

• 10:11Andy Frisella?

  Um, it was, yeah, it was 2003. So it was a long time ago.

• 10:16Lewis Howes?

  Few years after, few years after your, uh, you launched the supplement store, you're what 20?

• 10:24Andy Frisella?

  23.

• 10:25Lewis Howes?

  20 years old. You, um, are walking home from a bar with a neighbor. Is that right?

• 10:31Andy Frisella?

  Yeah.

• 10:32Lewis Howes?

  And, and she's Mexican.

• 10:34Andy Frisella?

  Yeah.

• 10:34Lewis Howes?

  And you start, someone starts yelling, uh, racial slurs at her.

• 10:38Andy Frisella?

  Yeah.

• 10:38Lewis Howes?

  And then what happens? Your ego gets in the way?

• 10:40Andy Frisella?

  Yeah, man. I mean, like dude, I'm a, I'm a, you know, I'm, I'm a red-blooded, uh,

• 10:45Lewis Howes?

  Protector, defender.

• 10:46Andy Frisella?

  Collar dude, man, from Missouri, you know?

• 10:48Lewis Howes?

  Of course, I feel you.

• 10:49Andy Frisella?

  Yeah, I'm not gonna let somebody talk that kind of stuff, you know? And, uh, so we got in the

• 10:53Lewis Howes?

  Was he drunk too? I'm assuming?

• 10:55Andy Frisella?

  Yeah. Oh dude, it came out, he was on all kinds of drugs. That was his defense in court. I was high. I almost killed you, but I was high, so you should let me off. But anyhow, um, yeah, man, and uh. So what happened? He starts yelling slurs.

• 11:07Andy Frisella?

  Yeah, he was in a car and I walked, he was parked in front of my apartment. So he's yelling at me. This is St. Louis? Yeah, in Springfield. Okay. So he's yelling at me and we're going back and forth and he's parked directly in front of my, where I was living. So I couldn't, we're having this argument and if I walk in. He knows. He knows where I live, right? So I walk up to the car, we start arguing through the car. Uh, we get in like a little altercation through the window of the car. Really? All right. He rolls my arm up in the car and uh, and I turn around to walk away and I, I pretend like I'm gonna call the police and I said, hey, man, I'm calling the cops, you know, get out of here. And, you know, I'm trying to keep it clean on your show. Sure, sure. But uh, but uh. Yes, with other words.

• 11:49Andy Frisella?

  Yeah, yeah, right. So, uh, and I turned my back and. You were like, hey, man, I'm gonna call the cops right? Right, right. Hey buddy. Yeah. I don't like the way you're talking to my girl. Right, exactly. Uh, so, you know. So you turn around. I turned around and he came up behind me and he stabbed me here and he's trying to stab me in the throat. So like you could see it here a little. Wow, he came from behind and tried to like. And I heard him right behind me and I turned like that and that blocked him from stabbing me in the throat. Yeah. And then when I turned around, I didn't know he stabbed me. I thought he punched me and uh. Cause it's fighting so fast. Right. And um. Dang, that's hard as. Yeah, right. And, and so I turned around and then he stabbed me here, here and then in the back and uh. Wow, man.

• 12:28Andy Frisella?

  And I ended up like choking on my own blood and like falling on the ground and, I mean, it was pretty brutal stuff. And uh, the last thing I remember, um, is riding to the hospital in the ambulance in the, before I passed out and the, the, the nurse or the EMT saying in the radio, you know, I, I can't stop the bleeding. I don't know how to stop. She's like freaking out and I'm like, oh dude, I'm gonna die. Yeah, I'm dead. So, uh, you know, I wake up in the hospital and, you know, my face is all stitched up and, uh, you know, and. It was, uh, that was kind of the easy part of it. Um, believe it or not.

• 13:03Lewis Howes?

  You could take the pain.

• 13:04Andy Frisella?

  Yeah, man.

• 13:05Lewis Howes?

  Take the like the.

• 13:05Andy Frisella?

  Yeah, but my face swelled up like real big for like the, for like a year because he severed a blood vessel and it kept leaking.

• 13:10Lewis Howes?

  Oh my gosh, man.

• 13:12Andy Frisella?

  And, um, so my face was like, and I don't have any feeling on this side of my face at all anymore.

• 13:16Lewis Howes?

  Can't feel at all here.

• 13:17Andy Frisella?

  So like when I smile, like it doesn't go up.

• 13:20Lewis Howes?

  Oh, wow. Yeah.

• 13:21Andy Frisella?

  So it's like totally dead over here still.

• 13:23Lewis Howes?

  Oh, man.

• 13:24Andy Frisella?

  But, uh, but yeah, man, it was, you know, it was rough because, uh, you know, my face was completely disfigured, you know, I mean, it's gotten way, way better with time, but, uh, I mean.

• 13:37Lewis Howes?

  For years, it was like.

• 13:38Andy Frisella?

  Yeah, it was, it looked like terrible.

• 13:40Lewis Howes?

  Hard to look at yourself.

• 13:41Andy Frisella?

  Yeah, right. And, and, and, you know, it's an overnight thing and you can't fix it. And I didn't have the money to have surgery or fix it or anything.

• 13:47Lewis Howes?

  Oh, man.

• 13:47Andy Frisella?

  And, um, and so I got, you know, that's your face, man. You know, like I'm in college, I'm in the prime of my youthful years.

• 13:55Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 13:55Andy Frisella?

  You know what I mean? I'm out chasing girls and having fun and all of a sudden now I've got like this screwed up face. And, uh.

• 14:03Lewis Howes?

  It's not so fun anymore.

• 14:04Andy Frisella?

  No, man, it was not. And then I'm in retail. So like I'm dealing with people all day. So I have people that come up and they either, they either do one of two things. They either look at the ground while they're talking to you, or they look at you and they're like, dude, what happened to your face? So you get one or two reactions and that would just further like how it was, people were noticing and how you felt and.

• 14:24Lewis Howes?

  You have to constantly say what the happened, the story or make something up.

• 14:28Andy Frisella?

  Yeah, I just made up all the time. I told people I got in a car accident.

• 14:30Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 14:31Andy Frisella?

  You know, and, um, but, but, uh, you know, I got really depressed, man, like, um, like real depressed, like, uh, like suicidal depressed for probably two, three years.

• 14:44Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 14:44Andy Frisella?

  To where I was totally, you know, I mean, dude, you're not getting that back.

• 14:49Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 14:50Andy Frisella?

  And I still don't have it back. You know what I mean? And, and at that time of your life, I don't have, I'm not successful. I'm not really seeing any traction.

• 14:57Lewis Howes?

  You're not making money, the business isn't growing.

• 14:59Andy Frisella?

  I don't have anything. I'm, I'm just like, you know, this, this is what the, you know?

• 15:03Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 15:03Andy Frisella?

  And, uh. So yeah, man. Um, and then you start feeling sorry for yourself and you start going down that that,

• 15:10Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 15:11Andy Frisella?

  You know, that it's a spiral, man. You know, you you start adding fuel to the fire and and uh, and and just go into that dark place and and and constantly staying there. You know what I mean?

• 15:23Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 15:23Andy Frisella?

  And feeling sorry for yourself and and it just spirals and you get to a point where you's, you know, you're like, well, what's the point of this? This is this is not fun. And uh, it it, you know, I I'm a big believer that things happen for a reason and that you have to pay attention for things to happen, why they happen and look for them. But I learned that in one, basically i- in one moment. Um, I was a, I was walking through, um, it was an IGA, which I don't even know if you guys know what that is out here.

• 15:55Lewis Howes?

  Is that like a drive through?

• 15:56Andy Frisella?

  It's a grocery store. Yeah.

• 15:57Lewis Howes?

  Yes, of course.

• 15:58Andy Frisella?

  It's like old rural rural tech store. So.

• 16:00Lewis Howes?

  Yes. Um, isn't that they have a drive through too or no?

• 16:02Andy Frisella?

  I don't know.

• 16:03Lewis Howes?

  Do you know in Ohio, we have a drive through where you can like pick up beer. Do you guys have that?

• 16:08Andy Frisella?

  Like packaged liquor?

• 16:10Lewis Howes?

  You can like pick up anything like snacks, beer.

• 16:12Andy Frisella?

  Really?

• 16:12Lewis Howes?

  You like drive through. This must be an Ohio thing. I don't know.

• 16:15Andy Frisella?

  Yeah, it's weird, man. Yeah. But.

• 16:18Lewis Howes?

  So you got IGA.

• 16:19Andy Frisella?

  Yeah. So I'm walking through, uh, you know, pushing my cart down the aisle and I come to the tea at the aisle. And I'm like looking like this and I hit this cart and I'm like, oh, you know, and I look around and at this time I'm like very antisocial. I'm not looking at people. I'm looking at the floor all the time.

• 16:35Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 16:35Andy Frisella?

  Um, totally the opposite of what I am now. Um, and I look up and there's this person there that I, like, and I say thing because I didn't know if it was a male or female because its face had been like completely burned off.

• 16:52Lewis Howes?

  No way.

• 16:52Andy Frisella?

  Yeah, like completely burned off and was wearing like a bucket hat, no face.

• 16:56Lewis Howes?

  Couldn't tell.

• 16:57Andy Frisella?

  No, I couldn't tell if it was a male or female. Ended up being a female. Um, but she, so she looks at me and I look at her. She looks back at me and I look at her and she looks at me and she goes, dude, what the happened to your face?

• 17:11Andy Frisella?

  Like she knew that I knew and like made a joke like she knew you know what I'm saying so it was like an instant connection dude I just bust out laughing and we started talking. And it turns out she was in a plane crash and her whole family had died in a small plane. She's the only one that lived and uh you know total I mean total disfigure.

• 17:28Lewis Howes?

  Couldn't see you can't yeah.

• 17:30Andy Frisella?

  Yeah, like I mean. And so we spent like ten fifteen minutes talking and dude I walked out of that store feeling the best I'd ever felt in my life. You know what I mean?

• 17:39Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 17:40Andy Frisella?

  Uh so the perspective change was instant and uh you know I got over all the negative shit like literally in a in a ten minute conversation.

• 17:49Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 17:49Andy Frisella?

  Um and I never saw that lady again, never talked to her again. Uh you know, it just totally changed my whole perspective on everything and uh. It was a powerful thing, man.

• 18:01Lewis Howes?

  What was the what'd you do after that? Did you commit to some vision?

• 18:04Andy Frisella?

  Yeah, you know, I just started uh looking for what were what the good things were about it and and there was some good things. Uh for example, you know, when I was when you're building a business, one of the biggest challenges is is that you want people to remember you and know who you are and and and.

• 18:19Lewis Howes?

  They remembered your face.

• 18:20Andy Frisella?

  So like so like I would go places and this was happening before I met this lady, obviously, but I wasn't paying attention to it as something that was positive.

• 18:28Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 18:29Andy Frisella?

  Right? So like I would go to a trade show or go to an event and people would say, oh, yeah, you know, Andy. The dude scars, right? And and I would get pissed, but at the same but now I'm like looking at him like, wait, I could use this.

• 18:41Lewis Howes?

  Scarface Andy.

• 18:42Andy Frisella?

  Exactly, right, exactly. And uh and so I would go to these national trade shows and meet people and they would remember me like that. And you know, it was it was already happening. I just wasn't seeing as a good thing, you know, and uh and then I was like, okay, this this I could use this. And uh you know, it started working in my in my favor.

• 19:00Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 19:01Andy Frisella?

  Based solely off my ability to see it in a different way.

• 19:05Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, that's amazing. There's a you know, there's a principle from my book where I talk about from all the people I've interviewed, they always have some type of adversity, they they turn into their advantage.

• 19:13Andy Frisella?

  Right.

• 19:14Lewis Howes?

  And that's what you did. You had this adversity.

• 19:16Andy Frisella?

  You're like the alchemist of of of everything, but especially adversity.

• 19:20Lewis Howes?

  It's it.

• 19:20Andy Frisella?

  You know, and. I think that's a, I think that's a trait amongst all successful people. I think if you see or talk to or get in a conversation deep enough with somebody who's actually built something of their life, they're going to be able to tell you something that was terrible and they're going to be able to show you how they saw it as an advantage. And I think that's such a huge key, you know, how many things do we hear about from the average Joe? That, you know, we, you or I or any of these other guys could look at me like, wait dude, this is actually a good thing. If you look at it this way, oh, no, no, no, no, it's terrible.

• 19:50Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 19:50Andy Frisella?

  I'm like, okay.

• 19:52Lewis Howes?

  If you ask anyone who's made a difference in the world or anyone who's had a massive business, any great athlete, whatever it may be, scientist, doctor, it doesn't matter who it is, if they've, if they're at the top of their game, they've gone through some extreme adversity, some point in their life.

• 20:08Andy Frisella?

  Right.

• 20:09Lewis Howes?

  Maybe it was when they were eight, maybe it was in their 28.

• 20:12Andy Frisella?

  Right.

• 20:12Lewis Howes?

  It was their 48.

• 20:13Andy Frisella?

  Right.

• 20:13Lewis Howes?

  But they've gone through something extreme that they've had to overcome.

• 20:16Andy Frisella?

  Right. And dude, those things are the things that are going to teach you what to do when things go wrong, how to, how to react. Uh, they're going to give you your strength. They're going to give you your competitive advantage. And people spend so much time trying to seek the comfort that society tells us we have to have, right? They say, oh, well, get a safe job and marry and have 2.5 kids and do all this shit that like, is considered safe. And people seek the, the, the path of least resistance. And by doing that, they avoid all these things that could potentially end up making them so much more fulfilled, impactful, and all the great things that, you know, make people, uh, quote unquote, successful. Not just financially, but in any area, you know?

• 20:59Lewis Howes?

  Where do you think you'd be if you didn't get in that fight that night?

• 21:01Andy Frisella?

  Dude, I don't think I would, I don't, I don't know. I don't think I would be here. You know what I mean? Because it's, it was that impactful on, on how I see my whole worldview.

• 21:11Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 21:12Andy Frisella?

  Um, that I just don't know that, what could have, that's why I say, like, I actually look back now and I'm like, dude, that happened for a specific reason.

• 21:20Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 21:20Andy Frisella?

  You know what I mean? Like I was, you know, I was out drinking a lot and like getting in scraps with people and just doing dumb kid shit.

• 21:27Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 21:28Andy Frisella?

  And it straightened me out like instantly and got me focused on business. It got me focused, you know, on the path I am now. I certainly wouldn't. I don't I don't know, man. I don't think it would be anything like.

• 21:39Lewis Howes?

  What you have now?

• 21:39Andy Frisella?

  Yeah, it'd be a totally different life.

• 21:41Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 21:41Andy Frisella?

  Yeah, I I honestly, I tell people all the time, I think it's the best thing that ever happened.

• 21:44Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. Yeah. I mean, for me, when I get whenever my injuries were the best thing that happened to me, the things that got me out of that. My my sports career. Got me thinking differently.

• 21:54Andy Frisella?

  Right.

• 21:55Lewis Howes?

  It's got me thinking bigger.

• 21:56Andy Frisella?

  Right.

• 21:56Lewis Howes?

  And I went through, you know, a period of time where I was depressed and like, what was me type of attitude?

• 22:00Andy Frisella?

  Right.

• 22:01Lewis Howes?

  Pissed off with the world, but then I was like, let me make something of this and figure it out.

• 22:04Andy Frisella?

  Right.

• 22:05Lewis Howes?

  And I think we need those. If I would have never got injured and never had any pain, like.

• 22:09Andy Frisella?

  You wouldn't be who you are. Right. And now what you're doing is so much bigger on the big picture scale and you're, dude. And the great thing about that, because I was an athlete too, is that now you have your whole career ahead of you.

• 22:19Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 22:20Andy Frisella?

  You know what I mean?

• 22:20Lewis Howes?

  Exactly. I'm not like.

• 22:21Andy Frisella?

  Right.

• 22:22Lewis Howes?

  Just starting now.

• 22:22Andy Frisella?

  Retired, right. And and that's, you know, I think about that a lot, too, because I always wanted to be a pro athlete growing up and, you know.

• 22:30Lewis Howes?

  You're a football player, right?

• 22:31Andy Frisella?

  Yeah. Yeah. My brother played minor league ball and.

• 22:34Lewis Howes?

  Baseball?

• 22:35Andy Frisella?

  Yeah.

• 22:35Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 22:35Andy Frisella?

  And so we were, you know, it was always like something that we dreamt about, you know, and then when those things didn't happen, you're like, kind of, you're like, and that. That played into my whole depression. I'm like, dude, I, you know, I failed at this. I failed at that. I'm not, you know.

• 22:48Lewis Howes?

  Face is messed up.

• 22:49Andy Frisella?

  Nah, I can't I can't meet any girls. You know what I mean? Like, all the things.

• 22:52Lewis Howes?

  My business sucks. I'm worthless.

• 22:54Andy Frisella?

  Right.

• 22:55Lewis Howes?

  Why even be here?

• 22:55Andy Frisella?

  Right, exactly. And I think there's so many people that are like that, that just have not had an experience that staffed them out of it. Or chosen to actually think about like, hey, what could I do with the situation I have to make good of it? As opposed to going down the dark hole. You know what I mean?

• 23:13Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 23:14Andy Frisella?

  And it's just, I don't know, it's interesting to see how people react to adversity. I think it I think it defines just about everything productive out of somebody's existence.

• 23:25Lewis Howes?

  Now, do you feel like this, this, because that was a big trauma of yours. Do you feel like that trauma still affects you in a negative way today? Or have you kind of been able to process it and move through it in a way?

• 23:35Andy Frisella?

  No, I think I'm pretty good. I'm I'm, the only thing that I think it still sticks with me about it is that. Well, a couple of things. One, I'll say this. Uh, if you're somebody who, cause I think a lot of people see people who are in wheelchairs or are deformed or have differences and they try to like look away because they're uncomfortable. Don't do that. Like that makes people feel like total dog shit. You know what I mean? So when you see somebody who is in a wheelchair or who is different, go out of your way to say hi. Those people are normal people too, because I think that was one of the things that really affected me at the time. Was the way that other people would just like they would look at you and look away because they didn't want to feel like they were staring. You know what I mean? Yeah. It's like, dude, I know I got this. Like it's okay to look. Yeah.

• 24:19Andy Frisella?

  Say hi. You know what I mean? Uh, that was one thing that I think um, has always stuck with me since then. So I try to make sure that I go out of my way to make people who are different feel comfortable. Um, and I always like to say that when I tell the story because I don't think people really think about how impactful that is on people. Yeah. Um, you know, uh, negative wise, I would say the only thing negative and it's, I don't even know if it's negative, but that still sticks with me about is I'm just very aware of my surroundings all the time because it happens so quick. Uh, the actual act of it, that like, you know, I'm just very, not, not nervous, but I'm like Aware. Aware. When I'm around people, I'm very aware of what's going on and uh, I don't have any knives around me, don't worry. Yeah, no. My hands are in place. And, and so it makes me, it sometimes it makes it hard for me to relax. Yeah.

• 25:03Andy Frisella?

  You know, when I'm in like a crowd, I get a little, I get a little, not nervous, but just on edge. You never know. Right. It could be anything. A bunch of people up around you. Right, exactly. And so I think that's something, that would be the only thing I would say negative that stuck with me. All the other things has come of the positive, you know, the um, you know, I had to let go and forgive that dude, uh, a long time ago. Were you able to? Yeah. I mean, I didn't talk to him, but I mean, I don't, I don't wish bad on him. You know what I mean? Like I, like everybody's like, whoa, don't you wish all these bad things? I'm like, no, because that, you know, he, he, he went to jail. He, he went, yeah, for three years he spent in jail, you know? That's considerable amount of time, more than I want to spend in jail. You know what I'm saying?

• 25:41Andy Frisella?

  Like, uh, but you know, people do dumb shit and I, I'm sure he probably learned his lesson and, and I'm hopefully, yeah, you know, and maybe not, but I, I can't hold on to that. It's not gonna help you. No, it's gonna hurt me. And uh, you know, I don't have any animosity about the situation and, and quite honestly, you know, like I said, I really do believe it's one of the best things that ever happened. So how can I, I can't feel good about it in one way and then be mad about it another way. You know what I mean? If you could go back to that night, would you do anything differently? No. Yeah, I wouldn't. Wow. Yeah. Yeah, in fact, like I went to my friend, my, my, my really good friend in St. Louis, Mike Nyack is a, is a plastic facial plastic surgeon. He's president of facial plastic surgery and he asked me the other day, he's like, man, do you want me to fix? Yeah, and I'm like, no.

• 26:26Andy Frisella?

  He's like, cause I can, you know, I can afford it now. But, uh, he, he, I'm like, no, I'm like, you know, it's part of who I am. You know, if I get it fixed, it's gonna take away from that.

• 26:36Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 26:37Andy Frisella?

  Yeah.

• 26:38Lewis Howes?

  And I'm curious, why didn't he, you know, finish you off if you're laying there on the ground? Why didn't he just?

• 26:43Andy Frisella?

  Oh dude, my, my buddy who still works, he, my buddy who runs the distribution for First Form, uh, was with me. He was like 10 yards away and like tackled the dude.

• 26:53Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 26:53Andy Frisella?

  Yeah, so like he didn't know, nobody, dude, it happened so quick, you couldn't have, it was dark.

• 26:57Lewis Howes?

  He didn't know he even had a knife probably, he was just like, oh, what happened? He punched you or something?

• 27:01Andy Frisella?

  Yes, exactly. And, and, uh, he like tackled the dude and pulled him off of me and the dude ran. And then, uh, there was a police officer in a parking lot that was adjacent that I happened to actually know. Like I know this dude, he witnessed the whole thing. So like when it, you know, he ended, the guy ended up pleading guilty because it was a, there was, it was a solid.

• 27:21Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, right, yeah. Wow.

• 27:23Andy Frisella?

  But yeah, so I mean, my, my buddy who I'm still, you know, my best friend, he's in my wedding and he works for me.

• 27:29Lewis Howes?

  Savior.

• 27:29Andy Frisella?

  Yeah.

• 27:30Lewis Howes?

  Wow. Crazy. What happened to that guy's car? I'm curious.

• 27:34Andy Frisella?

  To his car?

• 27:35Lewis Howes?

  The guy?

• 27:35Andy Frisella?

  Oh, dude, he got in the car and drove off.

• 27:37Lewis Howes?

  Oh, he got in the car?

• 27:38Andy Frisella?

  Yeah, and, and he drove off and then the, the cops pulled him over like a block away.

• 27:41Lewis Howes?

  Oh, gotcha.

• 27:42Andy Frisella?

  Yeah.

• 27:42Lewis Howes?

  I was gonna say, if that was, if that was your buddy and I would have tackled him, I would have been like beating his car.

• 27:47Andy Frisella?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, man. It was, uh,

• 27:50Lewis Howes?

  The tires.

• 27:51Andy Frisella?

  Dude, it was, it was so fast. Like it was like, like it sounds like this big, long story. It's like,

• 27:56Lewis Howes?

  10 seconds.

• 27:56Andy Frisella?

  Right. It was like 30 seconds max.

• 27:58Lewis Howes?

  But it seemed like forever probably, right?

• 28:00Andy Frisella?

  Yeah, and I, I mean, when I live it, it's like that, you know, it's weird how things are like. You ever been in a car wreck and like, uh, you're like hitting shit and then all of a sudden it gets quiet and you're like waiting for something else to happen? It's like that.

• 28:12Lewis Howes?

  Wow, man. That's crazy.

• 28:14Andy Frisella?

  Yeah.

• 28:15Lewis Howes?

  Were you just like holding your neck the whole time or what were you doing?

• 28:17Andy Frisella?

  No dude, I didn't know. I thought, I still didn't know that he had stabbed me. So I started swallowing my own blood.

• 28:24Lewis Howes?

  Oh my gosh.

• 28:24Andy Frisella?

  Yeah, and, uh, The, the, the, the cop called the ambulance and it was there like

• 28:31Lewis Howes?

  Quick.

• 28:32Andy Frisella?

  Yeah, super quick.

• 28:33Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 28:33Andy Frisella?

  And they're like, you gotta go, we're taking, I'm like, I'm like, no, I'm fine. Yeah, cuz I thought, I thought the guy, like he had just beat me up.

• 28:40Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 28:40Andy Frisella?

  You know, and, and I was just busted open and they're like, dude, this guy is like, you know.

• 28:47Lewis Howes?

  He's got you in the face here.

• 28:48Andy Frisella?

  Yeah.

• 28:48Lewis Howes?

  He's got a big gash probably than a big gash here.

• 28:50Andy Frisella?

  This one was like hanging open like to the bone.

• 28:52Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 28:53Andy Frisella?

  And this one here was through my face into my teeth. Yeah.

• 28:57Lewis Howes?

  Gosh, man.

• 28:57Andy Frisella?

  So it was, uh, it was brutal.

• 28:59Lewis Howes?

  But you had so much adrenaline, you probably wouldn't have aware of what was.

• 29:01Andy Frisella?

  You wouldn't be any different. Nobody would be like, I'm good.

• 29:03Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 29:04Andy Frisella?

  Let's go. I was going to shock.

• 29:05Lewis Howes?

  Tape me up.

• 29:05Andy Frisella?

  Right. I wasn't trying to be, I wasn't trying to be a badass.

• 29:09Lewis Howes?

  Right, right.

• 29:09Andy Frisella?

  Didn't realize how bad it was.

• 29:11Lewis Howes?

  Wow. Gosh, man, that's crazy.

• 29:13Andy Frisella?

  Mm-hmm.

• 29:14Lewis Howes?

  It's a crazy story. Now, were you this big? Like, were you like a big, strong guy back then? Or were you like?

• 29:18Andy Frisella?

  No, yeah, no, I was just like a little, little weiner.

• 29:22Lewis Howes?

  You were a skinny guy then?

• 29:23Andy Frisella?

  No.

• 29:23Lewis Howes?

  I didn't know.

• 29:24Andy Frisella?

  I was like born this big.

• 29:26Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. I don't know if you were like Jack Denver.

• 29:28Andy Frisella?

  Yeah, no, I was like, I was in good shape, you know? I was like two fifty and like lean. Like this dude was like, and that was like the thing cuz, uh, my buddy Scott was like, this guy was like one eighty and like just kicked my ass.

• 29:39Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, nice.

• 29:40Andy Frisella?

  Yeah, right.

• 29:40Lewis Howes?

  Doesn't matter how big you are. You got a knife or a gun.

• 29:42Andy Frisella?

  Right.

• 29:43Lewis Howes?

  It doesn't matter.

• 29:44Andy Frisella?

  Nowadays, it doesn't matter because you got all these dudes that are MMA trains. So like, you don't know who.

• 29:48Lewis Howes?

  With a hundred, no, a hundred and twenty pound guy might kill you.

• 29:50Andy Frisella?

  No, these dudes, that's what's so funny. These dudes who like lift weights and they're big and they walk around and they're like, oh, that guy's only one fifty. I'm like, that guy'd kick your ass.

• 29:56Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, exactly.

• 29:58Andy Frisella?

  Some of these girls will kick your ass, too.

• 29:59Lewis Howes?

  I know, man. I would not wanna mess with people in the ring.

• 30:02Andy Frisella?

  That train, right.

• 30:03Lewis Howes?

  I'm, I'm not even gonna try to have like a, act like I'm a big guy or anything.

• 30:07Andy Frisella?

  No, man.

• 30:07Lewis Howes?

  Um, now you talk about, um, the importance of starting your business when you're broke. Why do you think that's something that people should do? Cuz there's a lot of people that listen to your podcast, which everyone should download. The MFCEO Project, correct?

• 30:20Andy Frisella?

  Yep.

• 30:21Lewis Howes?

  Make sure you guys go check it out. You do it once a week?

• 30:23Andy Frisella?

  Uh, tw- twice a week.

• 30:24Lewis Howes?

  Twice a week.

• 30:24Andy Frisella?

  So we have a full-length episode on Tuesdays and then a ten-minute episode called Thursday Thunder on Thursdays.

• 30:29Lewis Howes?

  Oh, that's a good name. Yeah, I like that name.

• 30:31Andy Frisella?

  So it's all motivation on Thursday.

• 30:32Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 30:32Andy Frisella?

  Tuesday's practical entrepreneurial mindset advice.

• 30:35Lewis Howes?

  Yes. Um, and then get it at iTunes or the MFCEOproject.com.

• 30:39Andy Frisella?

  Yep.

• 30:39Lewis Howes?

  Right?

• 30:42Lewis Howes?

  And you talk about building a business while you're broke. And I know there's a lot of people that listen to you and there's people who are here who are beginners or just getting out of college or whatever, or maybe they are leaving a career and they're starting something. They want to try something on their own. Why do it when you're broke? Or that mentality?

• 30:58Andy Frisella?

  Yeah. So I call that zero option mentality. It's something I talk about a lot on the podcast.

• 31:06Andy Frisella?

  Basically,

• 31:08Andy Frisella?

  you want to get yourself in as much, in much of a situation as possible to where you don't have an option, but to succeed. You know, people use the idea of I don't have the funds or I don't have the resources. I don't have this as an excuse so often.

• 31:23Lewis Howes?

  I hate that dude.

• 31:24Andy Frisella?

  I hate it. Cause I'm like, dude, this is the best thing you could ever have. It is the best thing you could ever have.

• 31:29Lewis Howes?

  Getting the investment is not going to help you in my mind.

• 31:31Andy Frisella?

  You're just going to go spend it. Right.

• 31:32Lewis Howes?

  And then you're not going to be resourceful.

• 31:34Andy Frisella?

  Right. And you could think about this. Think about this. So you have you who has zero resources and then you have your competition who's got rich parents or an investor or inheritance or some other thing that you don't have in your own mind. Right? But he's got resource, quote unquote, resources.

• 31:48Lewis Howes?

  Money. Yeah.

• 31:50Andy Frisella?

  You, to get successful are going to have to go out, get creative and think. You're going to have to become resourceful. You're going to have to get yourself solutions to problems that money can't buy.

• 32:03Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 32:03Andy Frisella?

  Okay. And that is going to all bank in your little pea brain as competitive advantage over the long haul. So let's say 10 years later, you have you who has 10 years worth of creative lessons, resourcefulness, innovation, creative solutions. And then you have your competitor who was able to buy his way into the market because his mom and dad gave him 10 million bucks. This dude hasn't learned shit for 10 years. Okay. He has bought his way into his market share and then all of a sudden you guys converge and you have to compete. Who's going to win that battle? The creative guy is always going to win. The resourceful guy is always going to win because he's going to be able to figure out how to get the most result for the least amount of money and be effective.

• 32:46Andy Frisella?

  And, and people want to, they want to jump from day one to day 10 by getting some big seed money or big investment. And dude, I don't care how much money I've made. I try to pretend like I'm broke every single day in the way that I think. Because it forces me to create new solutions and innovate in my brain. You know, and so when people say, oh, like you said, I don't, I hate it when people say that. I do too. Because you're missing the point of what the entrepreneurial journey is about. It's about taking an idea, it's about executing on the idea. And it's not about having the perfect plan. It's about your ability to adjust and create and improvise your way through this path. You know, and so many people, especially with the way the internet is right now, you and I have talked about this many times.

• 33:32Andy Frisella?

  You got these make trillion dollars in 12 month guys advertising shit on the internet. And these young kids, they think that that's what they, that's the way it goes. And it's just not, you know, you're not gonna go. Takes time. Dude, it takes time and you want the lessons, you know? Dude, we're gonna be in business for 30, 40 years, you know? Calm down. You know what I'm saying? Like dude, some of the best times I had in business were when I was broke. Like dude, and we were living in the back of that store and we were like buying 12 packs of natural light and beer bonging them in the back room. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, and just trying to make a couple hundred bucks. Yeah dude, like so we could go out and, and, and you know, go get pizzas and shit. Like, that was fun dude. And people don't realize like, you don't want to skip that stuff. Like that's a cool part of, of the journey.

• 34:19Andy Frisella?

  You know, it's not all about the money, man. The money, the money makes things a little more interesting. But you know, at the end of the day, it, it, and it sounds corny, right? It's about the journey, but it really is about the journey. You know, and you don't want to try to jump past, uh, all the good stuff that you're gonna experience because you're in some sort of hurry. Because not only are you gonna miss all this cool stuff, you're going to discount, uh, your education to level zero. You know, by getting somebody to, to give you X amount of dollars. I mean dude, if somebody had given me a million dollars the day that I started, I would have, I would have blown it in a week. Yeah. You know, oh, we could do this, we could do that. Dude. I don't care how much money you have, time is a factor in business, you know, like it takes people.

• 35:05Andy Frisella?

  Uh, as you know, we talked earlier about the human relationship part and connection part of, of, uh, business. It takes people time to like and trust and become loyal to a concept. So that's why you see people who spend, they get these big forty million dollar, uh, Super Bowl commercials. You never hear from them again.

• 35:24Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 35:24Andy Frisella?

  You know what I mean? Because dude, you can't buy your way into a market.

• 35:27Lewis Howes?

  No, doesn't matter how creative the commercial is, how funny, catchy, maybe they'll remember you for three weeks.

• 35:34Andy Frisella?

  Right.

• 35:34Lewis Howes?

  But they're not going to stay with you for a lifetime.

• 35:36Andy Frisella?

  Exactly.

• 35:37Lewis Howes?

  As if you built them a relationship and you know, that's something you do great is you're building consistent content. You know, something with my podcast as well, I've been around for over four years with the podcast. So many new podcasters come out and say, well, how do I get this many downloads really quick? I'm like, you gotta like.

• 35:51Andy Frisella?

  Dude, you gotta pay your dues, bro.

• 35:53Lewis Howes?

  My first year, I, I got seven hundred thousand downloads the whole year.

• 35:57Andy Frisella?

  Yeah.

• 35:57Lewis Howes?

  Right?

• 35:58Andy Frisella?

  Yeah.

• 35:58Lewis Howes?

  Now we're getting more than double that a month.

• 36:00Andy Frisella?

  Right.

• 36:00Lewis Howes?

  But it's like, cause I've been consistent every single week for over four years.

• 36:04Andy Frisella?

  Yeah.

• 36:05Lewis Howes?

  You can't just hope in thirty days, you're going to be like the top of the charts and stay there.

• 36:08Andy Frisella?

  No, and, and the other thing is, is you, you're hitting on it, like you've gotta be diligent to be consistent. Like dude, we do Tuesdays and Thursdays.

• 36:16Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 36:16Andy Frisella?

  Every week, we've done that for two and a half years now.

• 36:18Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 36:19Andy Frisella?

  You know, our podcast is growing, it's getting big.

• 36:21Lewis Howes?

  And it's not just about creating something, it's about getting it out there in a consistent way as well.

• 36:26Andy Frisella?

  Right.

• 36:26Lewis Howes?

  And I talk about a lot of authors come to me and say, well, how do you make it, you know, a best seller? I'm like, cause I'm constantly promoting.

• 36:33Andy Frisella?

  Yeah.

• 36:33Lewis Howes?

  And something you do so well is like, you're constantly creating unique content to share to the world that adds value consistently.

• 36:38Andy Frisella?

  Thank you.

• 36:39Lewis Howes?

  If you just posted, uh, a podcast and said, and then just hope people find it, it's not gonna happen.

• 36:44Andy Frisella?

  No.

• 36:44Lewis Howes?

  You've gotta put it out there and tease people to get in there.

• 36:47Andy Frisella?

  Right. Well, that's, that, so that brings up a whole nother point, all right? That's the lack of patience and the lack of, of consistency. And so what we have now, and, and I, we, you have a pretty big, uh, millennial audience, I would say, right?

• 37:00Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, it's broad, but yes, it's there too.

• 37:01Andy Frisella?

  So I want to talk to those guys just for a minute.

• 37:04Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 37:04Andy Frisella?

  Um, because they get a bad, bad rap, in my opinion. Um, my company is made up of all millennials except five people. All right, and they are the hardest working. Best employees, best team that you could ever imagine. You find the hungry ones, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Well, so I, it's not that they're not hungry. Cause I see all this stuff that's put out. Like I saw a Simon Sinek interview where he said, and I thought for the most part, he was spot on, but he said something that irked me in that interview. And he said millennials want to have a, they work for a purpose, whatever that means. And the thing about working for a purpose is that we're in a situation where business is so transparent

• 37:46Andy Frisella?

  that for us to get customers to become loyal to us, we have to go and lead with purpose first. If we lead with profit, they're going to see through it. Right. So we've got to solve their problems. Otherwise they're going to post about it. They're going to talk about it. They're going to share about it. And people are going to know that you don't give a shit about your customers instantly. Yeah. All right. So you're dead. Here's the great thing about millennials. Millennials are awesome because they do care about purpose and they do care about solving a problem. They do care about creating impact over money. Yes. And when you care about those things first, the money is always there. So millennials are the ultimate people to work with when it comes to building a company.

• 38:27Andy Frisella?

  However, what the reason they're getting a bad rap is because we have all these older gray hair, gray beer managers and CEOs. They're saying these guys, they're not motivated by money. Well, why don't you consider this, that it might not be them that's the problem. It's you. It's you're trying to motivate them the way that you were motivated when you were 20 years old. By getting an extra spiff or an extra commission or extra this because financially, you know, uh, financial hunger was more important in that generation. So we have a situation where we have this amazing workforce who is able to solve problems, being driven by purpose and they're getting this bad. Reputation for no reason.

• 39:10Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 39:10Andy Frisella?

  Okay, and when we talked about a minute ago, we were talking about being consistent and being patient. That's that's the downfall of millennials. Okay, so it's not.

• 39:21Lewis Howes?

  Want it now.

• 39:22Andy Frisella?

  Yes, but you can't blame them for wanting it now because think about how you you and I grew up, right? We didn't have, you know, we we were like the last generation that grew up with like old technology.

• 39:34Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 39:35Andy Frisella?

  And then now we're in new technology.

• 39:36Lewis Howes?

  I got a cellphone when I was seventeen.

• 39:38Andy Frisella?

  Exactly.

• 39:38Lewis Howes?

  And I was the first one in my high school to get a cellphone.

• 39:40Andy Frisella?

  Exactly, me too.

• 39:41Lewis Howes?

  But it wasn't like, you know, smartphone. It was like.

• 39:43Andy Frisella?

  It was like.

• 39:43Lewis Howes?

  A foot phone.

• 39:44Andy Frisella?

  Yeah, StarTAC. Yeah, right. So like.

• 39:46Lewis Howes?

  Singular. That was my provider.

• 39:48Andy Frisella?

  Right, right, right. So so you you have to understand, these people who are now twenty years old to twenty five years old, and they're very young, they grew up in a situation with social media, with texting, with with, you know, everything.

• 40:03Lewis Howes?

  Instant gratification, yes.

• 40:05Andy Frisella?

  Everything instant.

• 40:06Lewis Howes?

  Information instant.

• 40:07Andy Frisella?

  Instant, instant. You couldn't do it. It wasn't Google when I was starting in business.

• 40:10Lewis Howes?

  No.

• 40:11Andy Frisella?

  I couldn't get on the internet. What was the internet?

• 40:13Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 40:13Andy Frisella?

  You know what I mean? Like, I had to read a newspaper.

• 40:15Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 40:15Andy Frisella?

  You know, dude, I had a fucking beeper.

• 40:16Lewis Howes?

  Yellow pages.

• 40:17Andy Frisella?

  Dude, a beeper.

• 40:17Lewis Howes?

  I remember.

• 40:18Andy Frisella?

  You know what I'm saying? Like, dude, my girlfriend in high school, she wanted to say I love you, she like text me like the code of beeper.

• 40:23Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 40:23Andy Frisella?

  You know what I'm saying?

• 40:24Lewis Howes?

  Morse code.

• 40:24Andy Frisella?

  Right. So like, you can't blame a whole generation of people because they were raised in a in a time and an era that doesn't really cultivate patience. So when I say I want to speak to the millennials, you guys have to work on your patience because what Lewis is saying about being consistent with, you know, putting out content every single day for a year, or, you know, working on your business every single day, all day for five years to build a multimillion dollar brand, that's not going to change. So you have to understand, you guys, you guys have awesome asset by being purpose driven and you're you're set up because you understand technology.

• 41:03Andy Frisella?

  But please understand that patience part of it is not going to change. It's still going to take time. It's always going to take time for us to adopt a concept, for us to become to like a concept, to trust a concept, to become loyal to a concept when when we're buying things. It's going to be no different if you're selling things.

• 41:19Lewis Howes?

  Mm hmm.

• 41:20Andy Frisella?

  So, you know, if you're a millennial entrepreneur listening to this. Dude, remember, use the technology, but don't rely on it and think that shit's gonna happen like it has your whole life. The patience aspect, the time aspect of human psychology is always gonna be there.

• 41:33Lewis Howes?

  Absolutely. That's a great segment there. And one of the things that I think is important is that any entrepreneur today, I believe, needs to have a purpose behind their mission, behind their business.

• 41:43Andy Frisella?

  Right.

• 41:43Lewis Howes?

  Otherwise, you're not gonna get the millennial customers.

• 41:45Andy Frisella?

  No.

• 41:45Lewis Howes?

  Who want to buy because of a purpose.

• 41:48Andy Frisella?

  They wanna believe.

• 41:48Lewis Howes?

  They wanna consume something, whether it's supplements, or a service, software, whatever it is, clothing line. It's, they wanna be attached to a mission bigger than just product.

• 41:58Andy Frisella?

  That's right.

• 41:58Lewis Howes?

  And that's why I think it's so important to talk about what our purpose is as a company, or as a business owner, as an entrepreneur.

• 42:06Andy Frisella?

  Right.

• 42:06Lewis Howes?

  As opposed to just creating courses, like give some of that for a bigger purpose.

• 42:10Andy Frisella?

  Right.

• 42:11Lewis Howes?

  Back to something.

• 42:11Andy Frisella?

  Right.

• 42:12Lewis Howes?

  And have that lead with your mission that way.

• 42:14Andy Frisella?

  Right.

• 42:14Lewis Howes?

  And what do you guys do about that with your company?

• 42:16Andy Frisella?

  Well, so, you know, my, my biggest thing with, with First Form, I'm gonna talk about that because it's, it's a global brand now.

• 42:23Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 42:25Lewis Howes?

  Hundred sixty million dollars a year, right?

• 42:26Andy Frisella?

  Yeah, and we're selling national and international. And we've got three thousand outside reps. We're not multi-level, we do direct rep program. We call it the Legionnaire Program. So, we, we go out, we find people who, you know, trainers, influencers, regular people who wanna start a business.

• 42:40Lewis Howes?

  Yep.

• 42:40Andy Frisella?

  And we teach them everything how to do it. Now, we don't have them do all the annoying stuff that like, you know.

• 42:45Lewis Howes?

  Sliding people over.

• 42:45Andy Frisella?

  Right, it's none of that. It's.

• 42:47Lewis Howes?

  But they're selling products.

• 42:48Andy Frisella?

  They're representatives of the brand. They sell product and make money.

• 42:51Lewis Howes?

  What's different between that and like affiliate commissions?

• 42:54Andy Frisella?

  Um.

• 42:54Lewis Howes?

  Like influencer just makes money off commissions?

• 42:57Andy Frisella?

  Basically, it's, you know, it's very similar.

• 43:00Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 43:01Andy Frisella?

  So, it's, uh, it's actually the same thing. A lot of it's just in person. You know what I mean?

• 43:05Lewis Howes?

  Got it, got it.

• 43:07Andy Frisella?

  So, the, the thing is, is you have to understand, people in, in, they wanna be a part of something. Okay, we all have a need to, to feel a part of something. And so many brands right now are discounting this aspect of their business. Now, and the aspect I'm talking about is culture. Okay, now, if you wanna look at a case study on culture, let's look at Harley Davidson. All right? You can go to any tattoo parlor on the face of the earth and they will have a book of Harley Davidson tattoos. That's culture. That's people saying, dude, I belong to this. No matter what color I am, no matter what gender I am, no matter what sexual orientation I am, no matter what.

• 43:49Andy Frisella?

  If I ride a Harley and I meet another person that rides a Harley, we're automatically connected. Okay, that's culture and so many brands are not understanding that that is the ultimate competitive advantage that you can create because once people decide that they're a part of something, it's very hard for them to decide that they're not a part of something. All right. So for example, like let's say, just use Harley for example. Victory motorcycles, which is a terrific brand. They make an excellent motorcycle. Some would even say far superior than Harley. But people will not switch because they don't have a culture. Right. Cause if you ride up to

• 44:28Lewis Howes?

  The community.

• 44:28Andy Frisella?

  That's right. Right. And so it insulates you from your competition, a strong culture does. So, you know, all these people are trying to compete on price. They're trying to compete on, you know, all these different things when

• 44:39Lewis Howes?

  Price, quality, doesn't matter.

• 44:40Andy Frisella?

  Really what they should be doing is trying to create a situation where customers feel engaged with the brand a hundred percent to where they're loyal. And that comes through a multitude of different things and and and purpose is the biggest part of it. So like with our brand, our big initiative with purpose is that, dude, we include everybody. I don't care if you're a fitness star with 10 million followers, which we have those. Or if you're the, if you're a mom who's got to lose 200 or 300 pounds. You know, we're, we're inclusive. We want people to feel a part of our family. We want people to understand that fitness is not just for these people who look beautiful on the internet. That dude, the people who need fitness the most are the ones that are most terrified of going into a gym and and that's a culture in our industry. That is very toxic because.

• 45:25Andy Frisella?

  Why should, you know, somebody who's 200 pounds overweight that needs to go to the gym the most be afraid to go to the fucking gym?

• 45:31Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 45:31Andy Frisella?

  That's not right, you know, and so then that comes from massive egos. People who look down, you know, make jokes, uh, and dude, it's just, uh, you know, we're not about that, man. We're about creating a community of, of help, you know, the people who have the 10 million followers who are fitness experts are out there holding the hands of, you know, the mom who needs to lose 250 pounds and showing them how to do it.

• 45:55Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 45:56Andy Frisella?

  And that's the difference with our brand is it's not, it's not, hey, look at us. It's, hey, you're a part of us.

• 46:02Lewis Howes?

  Mm hmm.

• 46:02Andy Frisella?

  You know what I mean?

• 46:03Lewis Howes?

  That's powerful.

• 46:04Andy Frisella?

  Yeah.

• 46:04Lewis Howes?

  What advice would you give to someone who's looking to create a culture then if they're like, well, I don't know how to do that?

• 46:08Andy Frisella?

  Okay.

• 46:08Lewis Howes?

  So how do we, you know, how do we empower our community to like?

• 46:11Andy Frisella?

  That's a great, that's a great question. Um, it's, it's a very, it's, it's actually a very simple answer.

• 46:17Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 46:17Andy Frisella?

  Identify the core values that you stand for. So what's your company stands for? What does it stand for? What, what, what are you trying to do? What, what are the actual values, you know, do the right thing, go the extra mile for people, take initiative to help people. Um, you could define those, okay? So define half a dozen or, or a dozen core values that your company lives by. And then communicate to your employees and your, and your customers and those core values. And if you do that, the culture will naturally form.

• 46:44Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 46:44Andy Frisella?

  So, um.

• 46:46Lewis Howes?

  So kind of create a, a value statement or a list.

• 46:49Andy Frisella?

  It's just real easy. We have 10, you know, and then we go through and, and when we talk, we talk about those values and, and it's just communicating. And obviously living the brand through those values. So like all of our marketing, uh, all of our advertisement, all of our content, all of our products, all of our service, everything aligns with that.

• 47:05Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 47:05Andy Frisella?

  So, um, when you, you know, when you build, when you build a, a product that aligns with those values and you're living it by example, and you're always speaking about it, eventually people start to fall in line.

• 47:16Lewis Howes?

  Mm hmm.

• 47:17Andy Frisella?

  You know?

• 47:17Lewis Howes?

  What do you think is missing? Um, what are people missing in providing a quality service today in business?

• 47:23Andy Frisella?

  Hmm. I think today, the biggest missing gap, uh, when it comes to quality service comes from the fact that.

• 47:33Andy Frisella?

  The lack of patience again. Okay. I think a lot of people are, they're so focused on today's ROI that they lose the, the perspective of what a customer is worth over the lifetime. And so I think that's the biggest part that's missing right now is the understanding that the way you grow a, a multimillion, you know, a nine-figure, a billion-dollar brand is by retaining people and getting people to go out and tell the stories for you. Because now we live in this situation where, like we talked about earlier, social media is an accelerator for the story. So 15 years ago, if you did a really cool thing for a customer, they could tell three people and, and you know, maybe, maybe 10 would know about it. Now it's hundreds can know instantly.

• 48:17Andy Frisella?

  So take some of the money that you're using to try to acquire all these customers and put it back towards, you know, the stories that you could create through great service and let them grow your brand for you. You know what I mean? Yeah. So, uh, we have these amazing tools with social now for us to do that. And nobody's doing it. Yeah. You know, people are, because of Facebook ads and affiliates and all the, all the stuff that's out there right now. Everybody's focused on, on acquiring. No one's focused on retaining or creating loyalty. And if you can be somebody who, who focuses on retaining, creating loyalty, these people have the ability to build your brand for you through the word of mouth. And that's how we buy. How do we buy things? Why do you buy the shoes that you wear? Why do you buy the shirt that you wear? You don't buy it because you saw a commercial on TV.

• 49:02Andy Frisella?

  We bought it because somebody that we admire or respect in that way or think is cool. We saw it, right. And we're like, oh, that's cool. Yeah. They might not have told us to buy it, but. I bought LeBron James shoes recently because I like LeBron. Right, exactly. He's wearing them. You know, it's like, yeah. And that's why we buy. We don't buy because the company tells us. We buy because a person tells us. Yeah. And so, you know, I think that's the biggest gap missing right now is that people are not utilizing the power of social media and social connection to tell great stories. And where do you think your business would be if you didn't have influencers promoting? I just started that and dude, I haven't paid, First Form has not paid, uh, one.

• 49:42Andy Frisella?

  One influencer until 2017 and we grew to a hundred and twenty million dollars without spending a dollar on advertising, all based around the stories aspect.

• 49:53Lewis Howes?

  Wow, wow.

• 49:55Andy Frisella?

  So all organic growth.

• 49:57Lewis Howes?

  And what has influencers done for you then, I guess in the last few months?

• 49:59Andy Frisella?

  It's, it's, it's still, I mean, it's helped us. So, so basically the purpose of, of influencers is to get new eyeballs on the brand, right? But we want, we want to tell, we want people to look at our brand, be excited about the brand, possibly join the brand if they're a good fit. If they're not a good fit, I don't want them.

• 50:17Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 50:17Andy Frisella?

  You know what I mean? And then become loyal to the brand. So basically it just gives us a chance to gain, you know, more eyeballs. It's not, hey, I want to sell these people something today. I want to capture them forever, you know? So.

• 50:29Lewis Howes?

  That's powerful.

• 50:29Andy Frisella?

  Yeah. And I mean, most of our athletes are all just regular people who, who, they're not like these paid celebrities. They're people who have regular jobs, who live regular lives, who use fitness to enhance those lives instead of realistic, realistic expectation of what, you know, that lifestyle should be.

• 50:49Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 50:50Andy Frisella?

  You know, like dude, this, this stuff of like, you know, I work out seven hours a day. That's not realistic, man. You know what I mean? Nobody's doing that.

• 50:57Lewis Howes?

  You're not living a life. Yeah.

• 50:58Andy Frisella?

  Right, right.

• 50:58Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, that's cool. And on a few more questions. One is, as you've grown, you've got more and more employees, right? You've got a bigger, more team. How did you go from essentially being you in a store with a buddy or two to managing a team? And what's the difference between managing and leading a team?

• 51:17Andy Frisella?

  Oh, man. Well, the growth happened organically. Like a lot of people, I think, in business make a mistake where they try to have employees or have people in this department or that department before they actually need them because they want to quote unquote play, I call it play business. You know, I want to have this person. I want to have that person.

• 51:37Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 51:37Andy Frisella?

  Dude, don't hire people until you need it, you know? There's certain exceptions to that. Like, like great customer service people can actually turn into a positive, you know, cash flow situation where you're actually able to service more people and make more money. It's an investment. But most of the growth happens organically. But the difference between managing and leading, you know? To me, and I think if you ask 10 people, they're gonna get 10 different answers, you know, which is why it's a cool question. I think managing is the enforcement of policy. And I think leading is inspiring people to be the best that they can be. And I think that's the difference, you know, you have a good manager, they can enforce the rules. They can make sure nobody's, you know, messing up.

• 52:20Andy Frisella?

  But at the end of the day, they're gonna stifle potential of all your employees. You're not gonna have the growth that you would have amongst those, the personal development growth, which is what you need in a company, because you want people to come in, move up, succeed, create, you know, new career opportunities, because if they grow, you grow and everybody's happy. So a manager will stifle those things. I think a leader will bring those things out.

• 52:42Lewis Howes?

  That's powerful. Yeah, yeah. This question's called the three truths. And if this was the last day for you many years from now, and you only got to share three final thoughts, and there was no other content about you out there. You write kids books as well, we forgot to mention, you've got other content constantly putting out there. But if all this stuff, you weren't able to share anymore, and you only had three things you could say, that would be the lessons you leave behind to the world, what would those three truths be?

• 53:11Andy Frisella?

  I think the first thing would be always do the right thing. Always do what you feel is right. And sometimes what you feel is right is gonna be wrong. But I feel like if the intention is always that you're, that you're trying to do the right thing, you can always recover even when it's wrong and make it right. I would say that's the first thing. I've been very fortunate with that mentality.

• 53:34Andy Frisella?

  Two is give more than you take. I feel like if you give more than you take, you're always gonna feel good about everything that you have in your life. You're not gonna feel guilty about the blessings that you have, or the fortunes, the good things that you have. I see a lot of guys who feel like they don't deserve what they have. And I feel like that's because they've taken it all and not, not given more. I feel like we all have.

• 53:57Andy Frisella?

  The internal drive to contribute and be a part of something. And I think that, you know, giving is a big part of that. I really feel like for me personally, giving is is creates much more happiness in in my day to day life than anything else.

• 54:13Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 54:14Andy Frisella?

  Third, uh, I don't know, those those first two ones are the main ones. I think third, if we're gonna make it a business thing, it would be to always focus on making impact or making a dollar. Uh, I think, you know, people get so focused on making a dollar that they lose the idea that we're here to provide a solution. We're here to provide an impact. And that's what makes the dollars. So focus on the impact and forget about the dollars and the bigger impact you make, the dollars will naturally come. You know, that's, that's a little bit more business minded, but I think the first two cover my life.

• 54:52Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, it's great.

• 54:53Andy Frisella?

  You know, so.

• 54:55Lewis Howes?

  Uh, this is a question, fun question. I like to ask people, if you had a tattoo on your forehead for the rest of your life, that was in reverse, that you could only see when you're in the mirror.

• 55:02Andy Frisella?

  Yeah.

• 55:03Lewis Howes?

  Uh, what would that tattoo say? It was a word or a phrase?

• 55:09Andy Frisella?

  Calm down. Yeah, yeah. So, uh, so, I mean, you know me, dude, you've known, you know me for a few years. I have a tendency to get super riled up. I mean, if you listen to my podcast or follow me, like, you know, that's how most people know me.

• 55:24Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 55:24Andy Frisella?

  You know, and, uh, I I'm impatient and I'm intense and I want to win today. And so that's why I can relate with the millennials so well, because dude, I want it today, too.

• 55:33Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 55:33Andy Frisella?

  I've just learned through experience that, you know, your cake, it just because you turn the oven up to 800 degrees doesn't mean it's going to bake twice as fast. You know what I mean? So I've just learned that I've burned enough cakes to know that.

• 55:44Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 55:44Andy Frisella?

  So, uh, you know, calm down, I think, uh, would be a good one for me because, you know, I, I, I have such an amazing team and staff and they put up with me. It's like, dude, if you knew, like how.

• 55:57Lewis Howes?

  I see your snaps.

• 55:58Andy Frisella?

  Yeah. Yeah. I mean, these guys, but like, even like my brother who runs first form day to day and my business partner and, uh, my, my other, you know, guys who are just the key people. You know, they've all taken the time to understand my character, uh, that like, dude, I'm intense and I want to win. And when shit gets screwed up, I'm like a monster. Yeah. And and, uh, and they deal with it. And so I'm trying to work on. You know, appreciating everybody for who they are a little bit more, not just for like us trying to win in business, you know what I mean? And it's, it's made my life a lot, a lot more fun.

• 56:32Lewis Howes?

  That's good.

• 56:33Andy Frisella?

  Yeah.

• 56:33Lewis Howes?

  Uh, if you had an unlimited amount of money right now that you could, that you had to put towards solving one challenge in the world or one issue or concern or thing. And you had to use the money on that thing and it would solve that thing in the world. Whether it be a disease or issue, emotional issues, whatever it may be, what would you do with that money?

• 56:56Andy Frisella?

  Man, that's a hard question.

• 57:01Andy Frisella?

  I think I would use it to fix the education system.

• 57:03Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 57:03Andy Frisella?

  Um, I think the traditional education system is broken. I think it teaches people to live inside a box that is, uh, that is predetermined by other people who have never been outside the box. And I would use it to evolve our education system to somehow, um, be more accommodating to people who maybe think about different career paths other than just going out and getting a nine to five job. You know what I mean? Um, I had a very hard time in school because I've always been an entrepreneur. You know, I was a C D student all through school and struggled, you know, because I was, I always knew, like these dudes would be out there teaching and I'd be like, I'm never gonna do this. Not what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna leave here, I'm gonna go sell baseball cards. You know what I mean?

• 57:47Andy Frisella?

  Like, I was not interested in it. So, and there was never a avenue for me to like, besides what I did in my own time to like,

• 57:57Andy Frisella?

  cultivate that skill, you know, um, which is what's cool now, right? Like, cause you could buy it from people who are entrepreneurs, real entrepreneurs. There's a select few of them that you could buy their courses and learn how to be an entrepreneur. You couldn't do that when I was growing up or when you were growing up.

• 58:13Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 58:14Andy Frisella?

  So, you know, I don't know. I, I think the education system could be improved tremendously to help people.

• 58:21Andy Frisella?

  Cause I struggle with that, right? Like I was a CD student and I'm, I'm being told I'm stupid.

• 58:25Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 58:25Andy Frisella?

  I'm being told I'm never, dude, I had a guidance counselor tell me straight up. Uh, that, that I, you know, hey, look, uh, you're like a CD student, Andy, you know? Guys like you, they don't really do that well in college. You know, you might want to look at just like, you know, maybe getting in the family business or work instruction or, you know? And I'm thinking like, dude, I don't want to do that. Like, you know, and I'm not stupid.

• 58:49Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 58:50Andy Frisella?

  Stupid, you know? And, uh, you know, I, I just think that, I think that's a problem.

• 58:57Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 58:57Andy Frisella?

  That's, that's a major problem with, with, that needs to be solved.

• 59:00Lewis Howes?

  Sure. Well, it's good. There'd be a good place to put the money.

• 59:04Andy Frisella?

  Yeah.

• 59:04Lewis Howes?

  For sure.

• 59:05Andy Frisella?

  Yeah.

• 59:05Lewis Howes?

  Um, if this mic was connected to every person on the planet right now, and everyone put on headphones and it was a direct line to everyone's ears.

• 59:16Andy Frisella?

  Yeah.

• 59:16Lewis Howes?

  And you got 30 seconds to say a message, what would you say?

• 59:20Andy Frisella?

  Oh, man.

• 59:21Lewis Howes?

  Everyone would hear it.

• 59:22Andy Frisella?

  Everyone?

• 59:23Lewis Howes?

  Everyone would have headphones in.

• 59:25Andy Frisella?

  I would think of like the dirtiest joke I could possibly tell. I got a couple of them. No, I don't know, man. Like, uh, that's such a hard question. I think, um, I would tell people straight up, like, look, you could analyze, you could think, you can, you can, uh, guess, uh, you could plan, but at the end of the day, it's going to come down to you starting and doing the work. You know, you have to go start, you have to go do, and you waiting is only delaying where you want to be. Um, you know, we hear it from all the, the good entrepreneur gurus that it's execution. And it is, that's all it is. And so many people want to wait until they get permission from someone to say, oh, your plan's good, or you could do this, or you could be a part of this,

• 1:00:08Andy Frisella?

  which goes back to the education system, how we're programmed. That they don't do anything. And at the end of the day, I'm not a smart guy. I'm just a guy who does shit.

• 1:00:17Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:17Andy Frisella?

  You know, and then I'm okay being wrong sometimes.

• 1:00:20Lewis Howes?

  Mm hmm.

• 1:00:20Andy Frisella?

  You know, and I learned. So I I would figure out a creative way to put that in thirty seconds. Understand.

• 1:00:25Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 1:00:25Andy Frisella?

  You know, how to uh, how to, how to be okay with failing, man, be okay with doing things and and learning lessons. Welcome those things.

• 1:00:33Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:33Andy Frisella?

  You know.

• 1:00:34Lewis Howes?

  I love it. I love it. Uh, check out the MFCEOproject.com.

• 1:00:39Andy Frisella?

  Yep.

• 1:00:40Lewis Howes?

  Correct?

• 1:00:40Andy Frisella?

  Yep.

• 1:00:41Lewis Howes?

  Or go to MFCEOproject on iTunes. Download the podcast for every Tuesday and Thursday.

• 1:00:46Andy Frisella?

  Yep. Yep.

• 1:00:47Lewis Howes?

  Entrepreneurial information and then motivation on Thursday, Thursday Thunder. Um, check out firstform.com.

• 1:00:54Andy Frisella?

  Yep.

• 1:00:54Lewis Howes?

  Check out, uh, you've got kids books that are awesome as well.

• 1:00:58Andy Frisella?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:58Lewis Howes?

  What else you have going on?

• 1:00:59Andy Frisella?

  Yeah, um, the kids books are cool. It's a, it's the passion project for me, you know, um. I, I have, uh, um, I was on my way to speak at Sundance Film Festival a couple of years ago and, and I was, I was crabby. I wasn't in a good mood.

• 1:01:13Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:13Andy Frisella?

  I was like, cause like dude, you know, you speak a lot. So like, do you ever get, and, and I want, I was, this is a good question to ask you. Like, do you ever get like frustrated that you feel like people are not lis- like they, like you're gonna go up there, pour your heart out and give this information?

• 1:01:25Lewis Howes?

  Mm hmm.

• 1:01:25Andy Frisella?

  And they're not gonna do anything? Like, I just want them to do it.

• 1:01:27Lewis Howes?

  Frustrating.

• 1:01:27Andy Frisella?

  Yeah, dude, like I just, I just want you to go do it.

• 1:01:30Lewis Howes?

  Mm hmm.

• 1:01:30Andy Frisella?

  You know, and, and so it's, it is frustrating. So I was in one of those moods where I was like, you know, dude, I don't even wanna do this, cause I'm gonna go up there, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do a great job. I'm gonna tell these people the truth and they're gonna go out and look for some other answer.

• 1:01:41Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:42Andy Frisella?

  You know? And, and that's why I started talking it out. I'm like, you know, we need to meet, we need to, we need to hit these people like before they've got all these pre-formed notions in their head. And I'm like, we need like a, like a teenager book. And then I, and then I'm like, no, cause they're already like.

• 1:01:58Lewis Howes?

  Messed up.

• 1:01:59Andy Frisella?

  Yeah. And then I'm like, man, you know what? I should write a kids book and I and like I said, cause my brand, you know, the MFCO stands for mother CEO, right? It's high profanity. Uh, you know, it's intense.

• 1:02:13Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 1:02:13Andy Frisella?

  And so everybody, we were on a plane. There was like five other people on the plane and they started laughing. And then I looked up and then they, everybody got quiet at once and they're like, oh dude, that's actually a great idea because it's, it's a story in itself. Like here's this crazy dude.

• 1:02:27Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 1:02:28Andy Frisella?

  Writing kids books.

• 1:02:29Lewis Howes?

  Sure, sure.

• 1:02:29Andy Frisella?

  So, uh, we came up with this idea for kids books. It's, um, it's called, the series is called Otis and Charlie's Hard Working Tales. And it's about, it's based on the characters of my two actual dogs.

• 1:02:39Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:02:39Andy Frisella?

  You know, and it, it goes through and, uh, it's a series of eight books. And it goes through and it teaches, um, parents, it's really a tool for parents to teach their kids, uh, how, you know, to communicate entrepreneurial lessons when maybe themselves weren't an entrepreneur. Because I, a lot of the questions I get were from parents. How do I teach my kids this even though I've never done this?

• 1:03:02Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 1:03:03Andy Frisella?

  Okay. So we created this as a set of tools for parents.

• 1:03:06Lewis Howes?

  That's cool.

• 1:03:06Andy Frisella?

  Who wanted to, um, you know, instill these values in their children, but maybe hadn't lived those values themselves. So it's, it's very simple things, you know, like you, you work, competition, you, you know, you work hard to get rewarded. Si- simple things.

• 1:03:21Lewis Howes?

  Sure, sure.

• 1:03:21Andy Frisella?

  You know what I mean?

• 1:03:22Lewis Howes?

  But in a fun playful way.

• 1:03:23Andy Frisella?

  Yeah, right. Exactly.

• 1:03:24Lewis Howes?

  That's cool. And where can people get that?

• 1:03:25Andy Frisella?

  Uh, Amazon.

• 1:03:26Lewis Howes?

  Amazon.

• 1:03:26Andy Frisella?

  Yeah.

• 1:03:26Lewis Howes?

  It's called, what's it called?

• 1:03:27Andy Frisella?

  Otis and Charlie's Hard Working Tales.

• 1:03:29Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. Good title.

• 1:03:30Andy Frisella?

  Yeah.

• 1:03:31Lewis Howes?

  Um, very cool, man. Uh, well, before I ask the final question, Andy, I want to acknowledge you for a moment for your incredible gift and charisma to get a message across in a simple way for people to consume it who maybe weren't as smart in school and to be able to use it to take action in their life.

• 1:03:48Andy Frisella?

  Thank you, man.

• 1:03:48Lewis Howes?

  I know you help so many people just from your team at First Form, from the people that are, uh, taking the supplements to help them get better in their life, from the education you teach people about how to live a healthy lifestyle and, and fitness. From, uh, your audience, all the people that consume your information, they're all benefiting in a powerful way.

• 1:04:09Andy Frisella?

  Thank you.

• 1:04:09Lewis Howes?

  So I want to acknowledge you for using your gifts to make an impact.

• 1:04:13Andy Frisella?

  Thank you.

• 1:04:14Lewis Howes?

  And, and be for good as opposed to for bad.

• 1:04:16Andy Frisella?

  Thank you, brother. Means a lot, man.

• 1:04:17Lewis Howes?

  Of course, man. Of course. Final questions, what's your definition of greatness?

• 1:04:24Andy Frisella?

  The pursuit of fulfillment of potential. I think that potential is always going to be a sliding scale. And if you gauge your greatness off of

• 1:04:37Andy Frisella?

  fulfilling your potential, you're never gonna, you're never gonna feel successful or greatness. Uh, because it's gonna slide, you're gonna, you're gonna pursue this, you're gonna improve, your skills are gonna improve. And, and, and your potential is going to expand.

• 1:04:50Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 1:04:51Andy Frisella?

  And I feel like as long as you're pursuing this and constantly growing and constantly pursuing. The natural principles that evolved from that process are gonna create greatness in one's potential. So.

• 1:05:03Lewis Howes?

  My man.

• 1:05:03Andy Frisella?

  Yeah.

• 1:05:04Lewis Howes?

  Thanks so much for coming on.

• 1:05:04Andy Frisella?

  Thank you, brother.

• 1:05:05Lewis Howes?

  Appreciate it.

• 1:05:05Andy Frisella?

  Appreciate it, man.

• 1:05:06Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:05:08Lewis Howes?

  There you have it. Super inspiring episode. If you enjoyed this, share it with your friends. LewisHowes.com/485. And make sure to tag me at Lewis Howes and Andy Frisella over on Instagram, on Twitter. Post a photo that you're listening to this and tag me on your Instagram story, on your Instagram posts, on Twitter and Facebook. And let me know what you enjoyed the most out of this. We've got some incredible guests coming up in the following weeks. Uh, if this is your first time here, make sure to click the subscribe button over on iTunes.com/greatness. Or if you're listening to this on your podcast app, just click the subscribe button. Make sure to share this with your friends. We get over 2 million downloads a month and it's all because of you guys.

• 1:05:52Lewis Howes?

  You guys spread the message. You're emailing your friends, you're tweeting your friends, you're texting your friends, you're just telling people word of mouth to listen. And it's making a difference. It's making an impact to so many people who are struggling, who have adversity to overcome that. And to go closer to the light and achieve their own vision. So thank you from the bottom of my heart for spreading the message and for continually listening every Monday, Wednesday and Friday when we put these out. I love you guys and you know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great.