Reflecting On Hard Times - FDDTC #23

What's up, guys? Devin Zander here. I never get the mic placement quite right, so I always have to move it at the start. Today though, we're talking about the struggle and how you need to enjoy difficult times. Anyways, hey, I'm Devin Zander, your host. This is the CEO. Wait, from deliver. Sorry, from delivery driver to CEO podcast. I fucked it up. I'm your host. These are lessons, tales, stories, and cute, you know, cat photos, dog photos, whatever. From times when I was a Jimmy John's delivery driver and high school dropout to the CEO of an eight figure software education company. Let's get into today's episode. Sorry about the intro. That was a fucking mess. Okay. I'm better now anyways. So I was thinking about something the other day when I was just sitting with my wife on the couch. We were watching some, I don't know, something stupid. I really don't know. But I was just thinking about difficult times in my life. In particular, I was thinking about when I first moved to St. Petersburg, the city that I live in now. And I moved here originally in about 2012, I think I was 20ish, 21 years old. I had just started my business. I was making maybe like 1500-2000 dollars a month with SEO. And I essentially moved here because of a girl I moved here to. My girlfriend at the time was going to USF St. Pete. It's a school that's literally like two blocks that way, so it's really close to. And I moved to the south side of St. Pete, which is, you know, the poor side. And I lived kind of up in the hood, which is fine. I grew up in the hood too, you know. You know, baby, single grandma, doing the best she can. That's who raised me. But I moved here and that's when I decided, like, okay, I'm gonna go all in on my business. And during that time, it was probably like when I was in the midst of it, I was thinking, you know, this is the worst thing I've ever been through. So I moved here for a girl. She was constantly cheating on me. She was never around. And so I'm living in this house, in this city. I don't know anyone here. I didn't even have a phone at the time because my phone had broken. And I decided that I just wanted to focus on my business. So I was like, well, you know what? I'm not gonna get a new phone. And it was honestly the worst year of my entire life. I was working in my business every day. I Was trying to figure it out. I didn't have a lot of money, so I was eating at Wendy's every day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. There's a Wendy's up the road. Sometimes I'd go to McDonald's. I usually didn't go because the line was always way too long. There was a 711 right by my house that did not sell gas. But, you know, they had a. It was a convenience store. So I'd go in there and I'd buy chips. I'd get the Muddy Buddies a lot. Like the Chex Mix things. I'd eat those. I got food poisoning multiple times because I would eat those gas station hot dogs. I love hot dogs, dude. Hot dogs. I don't know if you guys know this. I'm not vegan anymore. Let's go. But I would eat those gas station hot dogs all the time, and I'd get violent food poisoning. And really? Oh. And I don't think I mentioned this. And then I would just kind of drink myself to sleep every night. I would mix Jim Beam Honey. Oh. Which is so gross, by the way, to think about, like, I will never drink that. Ugh. But I would do that. And then I would chase it with Gatorade. And then I would, like, cry myself to sleep every night. Not joking. At one time, my business partner at the time, Stephen, I called him probably like nine at night. I was just fucking crying. I was so lonely. I just cry. I was like, dude, can I please just come visit you? He lived in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. And I was like, dude, just please let me visit you. Like, oh, yeah, come on. And I tell you all that, and it seems like it's really awful, right? And I don't know what causes this, but. And I've heard this from multiple other people, including my mentor, Andy Frisella. It's just that in the moment, these times suck. It's so awful, so miserable. And maybe you're experiencing something similar to that right now. But now, looking back 10 years later, I look at that and I'm like, man, that was one of the best times of my entire life. It was just me and my dog, Brutus. My girlfriend, who, you know, was out with other guys all the time, would come visit me sometimes. But it was just me and him, like, against the world, trying to build something and working on it every day. And sure, I was depressed and I was drinking, and I don't even think about those times. I just see the good and how I built something and how it all led to me, being this person that I am today, I was willing to suffer and it unlocked this life where I get to live out my dreams and do whatever I want. We've built multiple seven figure businesses. It's, it's hard now, but it's hard in a different way because there's always added layers of complexities as a business grows. But you know, I always thought that I would look back on those moments and think that they were the worst moments of my life. But for some reason I look back and it's like, no, no, no, no. These were the best moments. Obviously I've got moments with my wife and stuff and friends that I enjoy just as much, but I just look back and I really cherish and I'm glad I went through that. And I think part of it, and this is just a matter of opinion, but it's because going through those things transformed me and it made me who I am. And when you, let's see, like, greatness isn't forged when times are easy, you know, and by the way, here in the world, I believe that we are about to go through some tough times with the economy, with tyrants trying to push communism and socialism on us all, which is not a good thing. And you can see it reflected by the way in those interest rate changes now where if you're buying a home, you're punished for having a good credit score because they're trying to subsidize and make it more affordable for people who are irresponsible and do not aim for excellence. You should never be punished for excellence. You should never be punished for working hard when others weren't willing to. But that's another idea, that's another thought. But you know, have no doubt, that is socialism. There are tough times ahead and that is when we make radical jumps in who we are as people, what we do with our lives, what we accomplish, our own standards for ourselves. Greatness is never forged when things are easy. Because when things are easy, we just stay the same. We don't grow, we become slothful, we become fat, overweight, and that's, Look, I've been there, I have. So I, you know, if you're offended, you're like, oh, making fun of fat people. No, I'm not. I was fat. Fell victim to the same thing. We're all human, we all fall victim to these things. But tough times arise and they force us to sharpen ourselves because if not, then we just get beat back. We cower, we suffer, and we never achieve the life of dreams. And excellence. But point is, like, there's times in the moment, it was misery. Like if you're in the gym, right, it's not fun necessarily while you're there. I know some people might enjoy it when you're working on a new skill and you fail over and over and over and over and over. It's not fun. It sucks failing. But if you stick with it long enough and you keep trying and you don't let anything get in your way, eventually you're going to succeed. It is inevitable. If you are willing to learn, keep trying and actually learn from your mistakes, learn from what's going wrong. You are going to improve until you succeed. And then you will look back on those times where they were tough with such fondness. They will be the best times of your life. You'll be so glad you put yourself through it, and it'll all have been worth it, because then you've unlocked the best version of yourself. And not just that, but you prove to yourself you can do it. A lot of people are depressed, sad, anxious, lonely because they don't push themselves. And deep down, they know that they're not meeting their full potential. And there's nothing worse than realizing that life is finite. And all that time that you could have spent reaching your potential, seeing all that, your body, all that this world has to offer, and instead you spent it watching Netflix or around or getting drunk, smoking weed. Right? Which is fine. Do those things, I don't care. It's your life. But at the end of my life, I'd rather go through hard things and be a little sad in the moment I look back, it's a fond memory. How can I regret it? It's one of my fondest memories. And I don't have to live with the regret of not knowing. Because I know what happens when you try. I know what happens when you persevere. You don't give up. You succeed. But if you never try, you'll regret it for the rest of your life. So hard times are worth suffering through. And you'll never be able to be strong unless you do something hard. So this is Devin Zander. Thank you guys for listening. This is the From Delivery Driver to CEO podcast. We release episodes every Wednesday and Saturday. Just so you guys know, like, the reason we do this is because I was thinking about this yesterday and I was like, I think I should start sharing the reason why I share these things and, like, I share these podcasts. And it was because back in the day I've told this story, but I was scammed out of a lot of money from a developer, right? And I thought my life was. Was over. I was just, like, overcome. I didn't know what to do. And I found a book. It's called the Obstacles the Way. Talked about it a lot. There's like 30 copies right behind the camera here. And I was introduced to an idea called stoicism. And there's a lot of, like, you know, oh, well, the stoicism that Ryan Holiday teaches or this. It's not real stoicism. It's like, dude, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Just enjoy the message of the book. First of all, fucking Christ. Sorry. But one of the. I realized, like, man, this is so impactful for me. This is changing my life and it's allowing me to be happy. It's allowing me to realize what I can control, what I can't control. And it rewired the way I view hardships and success and failures. All these different things. But one of the core tenets, one of the core things that I learned, and this one I learned from Seneca, by the way. If you were to read any philosopher, a lot of people say Marcus Aurelius, stoic philosopher. I would say Seneca and Epictetus, but Seneca, mostly. Breakfast with Seneca is a very modernized version. Good way to start. But one of the core tenants and the key tenets of stoicism was like, any wisdom worth having is worth sharing. And if it's not worth sharing, it's not worth having. And that's why I want to share, because it was so impactful for me. And if I can repay the universe by sharing it and putting goodwill, good information out there and helping others, then I think that I'm living a life worth living. So, guys, make sure to subscribe. You know, I don't make any money off this podcast, so just subscribing and leaving. Five star review is extremely helpful. Share it with your friends if you think they'd find this beneficial. And we're on all podcast platforms as well as YouTube, so make sure you subscribe. I will see you guys in the next episode. Peace.