Ep40 - Eric Forney

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I had to go through the maturation process of becoming a leader that people would actually want to follow in order to get to where I wanted to take my business next.

Yet attitude means how can I proactively change the way I think? How can I proactively increase my life? How can I proactively create better relationships and better work situations for me to enjoy it and welcome to the Gap, the Get Attitude Podcast. The Gap. Bridging the gap from who you are to who you want to become. And bridging the gap from where you are to where you want to go. Hello, my name is Glenn Bill, founder of the University of Attitude, keynote speaker and author of the international best selling book the ABCs of Attitude. I've been so fortunate to help tens of thousands of people Get Attitude. Attitude. The secret formula to success in your life and in your business. And this podcast will help you get yours. So let's get some. All right, welcome everybody. It is so great to be here. We are on Attitude booster number eight, Love adversity. I want to remind everybody to please continue to subscribe, rate and review. Please share this podcast if you like what you're hearing. Today we are with a entrepreneur, a serious business owner, a high income earner, a high achiever. He's a young entrepreneur. It's somebody that you are going to learn how to embrace, how to look at and most of all how to love adversity. And today we are here with Mr. Eric from Forney, entrepreneur of Keller Williams west and the Eric Forney Group.

Have to be nice. I would love to over complicate our business, but showing up is 70% of the battle.

Hey, good to be with you.

Yeah, you as well. Appreciate it. Thank you.

Yeah, this is know we operate in the same market in Indianapolis and I've seen you and I followed you and and I'm like man, this guy is getting some. They're getting some shit done.

Yeah, thank you. Yeah. And apparently we have the same tailor and wardrobe.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, we got it. We look good. So thanks for wearing the attitude. The attitude, you know, colors.

That's right, that's right.

You're A little more maroon than me, but that's okay.

I know I'll have to get a new one ordered for sure. So I'll have to talk to my tailor, see if we can see if you can make something look just like.

Yeah, that bright red baby.

That's right.

It'll be all good. So, Eric, I tell you what. You came into our market and you really took it by storm with some massive growth. And I would have to think you probably had a lot of people going, what are you doing? You've never been in real. How long have you been in the real estate business?

Yeah, so just a little over six years now. And, yeah, I mean, we've had a lot of people who ask that question. In fact, when you think about adversity, it was probably the third year in the business for me when we started dealing with a lot of adversity. And most of that at the time was actually from other agents in the community. And so I heard all kinds. I've heard all kinds of stories about me. As far as how we operate a business, you know, business practices, we definitely dealt with a lot of things that I didn't expect that that would come by being successful. But oddly enough, success has its adversity as well.

Sure. And so I felt like you were a little bit of a disruptor with what I saw. You did things differently. Talk to me about how you saw things and then how you changed them.

Well, so I still ask myself the question of, like, when I'm looking for an outcome and I'm not getting it, and I can find someone who is getting an outcome that I want, the question I always want to know is, what do they know that I don't know? And so instead of thinking about what's reasonable, it's really more about, like, what is realistic based on what someone else knows that I don't know. And if. If someone's getting an outcome that I can't, it's created this gap in my thinking to where I need to fill that gap with more information. And really, I can't take my focus away from figuring out what I don't know in order to get that accomplished. And so one of the things that is kind of disruptive that has gotten us a lot of adversity is the fact that we don't take calls from our other agents. We don't take offers on weekends. And that all stemmed out of the fact that one weekend I had 187 showings on listings that I had on the market. And I tried to Go to a wedding at 5 o' clock on a Saturday. And I got back to my cell phone with just like probably 40 missed calls and angry voicemails. Of course, realtors are not nice and they're not very patient either, Right. And so it really forced me to have to ask myself, what did I do wrong? And what I realized was that I hadn't done anything wrong other than take too many listings that week and not have a system in place for mitigating the complaints. And so, you know, I looked around and said, well, is it possible that I could actually have a life, not answer the phone and still sell real estate? And then looking around, what I realized was that HUD sells an awful lot more homes than I do, and there's no one that answers the phone. And so if the government has figured out how to sell homes without answering the phone, there has to be a way for me to do that.

Awesome. And that, I mean, boy, you talk about adversity, right? And if you listen to our intro, right, Adversity manifests itself when your inner nervous system starts exploding and you start going, oh, my God, what's going on? And so many times adversity comes when you are bucking the system or when you are creating change. And so what a great lesson. And I think you maybe already answered, but when you ask yourself, what do they know that I don't know? I'd love to know whether in real estate life, whatever, what are some of the one or two best things when you asked yourself that question, where you went, wow, that was good. They didn't know something I didn't know. You bring those up?

Yeah. I mean, recently, one of the things that we were kind of talking about before we went on was the idea of digital scaling. You know, and one of the things that Covid has shown us is that when you look at scaling a business, really, the true way to scale something that is unique right now is through digital, through a digital platform. And so, you know, one of my concerns as a business owner is what happens when we print $6 trillion worth of stimulus money? What happens 10 years from now to me or 20 years from now to that next generation? And if we're still operating as a purely physically based business, can we withstand the pressure of whether that's inflation or taxes? And so it caused me to kind of ask myself, well, 20 years from now, how do I wake up and have a business worth owning? What do I need to know that I don't know? And in looking, what I realized was that scaling Happens digitally because you can deliver a product through a digital platform wherever you are in the world. And that should, that should have been obvious to me. And yet somehow as I was operating in this physical world, I missed the fact that digital scales regardless of the.

Location and digital scale, I mean, obviously Amazon, the quintessential example, but it's the artificial intelligence piece.

Yeah, absolutely.

Where we don't need people anymore. I mean, Amazon, they know what you want before you know that you want it and they pop it right up on the screen and they make it really, really easy to buy.

Yeah, yeah, and I talk a lot about that with my, with my staff is the idea of automating way more than what we're currently doing. And I think they get nervous about it. They're uneasy and resistant to the concept of automating. And I think a lot of it stems from the fear around of course, being replaced somehow by a computer. And yet the conversation I keep going back to is it actually allows people to stay in their strength zone. And so, you know, I met with developers recently and I think we can automate 95ish percent of the actual real estate transaction.

Cool.

With. And as you know, that's the most cumbersome part of the process is the 40 or so parties that are involved in somehow trying to run air traffic control around someone moving. Right. And why humans are still doing that. I still have not yet figured it out. And so all of that stems out of the one question of saying, what do I not know? What do I not know that I need to know? Or what do I not know that someone else knows? Because 10 years, 20 years from now, waking up and running the same business model, I don't see being nearly as effective or efficient.

Yeah. And it may be two years.

Yeah, correct, correct.

I mean, so it's like I did a virtual. I've been doing virtual open houses. Well, I used to spend Sundays at 10 o' clock putting out the signs, getting there half an hour early, staying a half an hour late. And I'm four hours into a commitment on an open house. Yeah, we post the home, we do a preview, takes 15 minutes. Oh, and I get what, three people that walk through.

Yeah.

On a good day, maybe 12. Now I'm doing virtual open houses. Well, guess what? I'm in and out of the house in 15 minutes. I'm not putting any signs out. And I have 250 views within 15 minutes of me doing the live video. So I've reached 250 prospects. 250 people saw the home, they share it, it's organic, it's scalable. And I get my afternoons.

That's right. That's right. And you could do that anytime during the week that you wanted to. Right. And queue them up or play them in advance. And those are the type of things that, to me, I think you have some options when you have adversity.

Right.

And that's, you can kind of, you can shut down or you can figure out how you're going to continue to power through. And usually some of the best innovations in business stem from adversity. And so here you are, you can't do your job, so to speak, in doing open houses. And through that adversity, you figure out how do you innovate in order to be more effective. And so as much as I've hated the stay at home portion that we were in previously.

Yes.

It's actually caused a lot of opportunity for me to enjoy the chaos of disruption because it's really easy to let go of the redundancies or the inefficiencies right now when we have no other excuse. It's either you stay home and do nothing and shut down, or you stay home and figure out how to reinvent your brand and reinvent how you go to the market. And to me, that's the fun part, is being disruptive.

Yeah, that's the juice. And so I always wonder why disruptors are the way they are. Let's just talk about who Eric Forney is. But what I love to know is how do you define attitude? You have people that work for you, you are hiring all the time, you're interviewing people. What does attitude mean to you? How do you know when you see it? How do you, how would you define it? Would love to just get your take on that.

Yeah. So one of the things that I've started to look at when interviewing and when hiring and then kind of when auditing the talent in my organization, what I've been taking note of is who's the most growth minded versus fixed minded. And so who's willing to learn a different way of doing something by always asking themselves that same question? What do I not know that I need to know in order to get the outcome that I'm seeking? And what I found is the ones who get the best results in our organization and the ones who bring me the most energy are the ones who are always willing to question whether the way they're doing something is right. And so what I teach is that everything that you should do, you should approach from A framework of everything that you know is wrong.

Sure.

And when tomorrow you can become less wrong then that's the actual win itself because what you're doing is you're, you're improving your, your mindset for one and knowing that you don't know everything in order to be highly effective and then you're also approaching it from when you are wrong. It's not personal.

So I love that attitude to you is somebody that is growth minded, somebody that it sounds a bit self deprecating or is not afraid to look at the, the dark side as opposed to being roses and cherry all the time. When you think about who like formulated your attitude like you know, like obviously I know you're driven inside. I want to know where does that drive come from? I hate what's your why I hate that. But maybe you have one. I'd love to know what that is and who are your attitude coaches? Who do you learn from?

Yeah. So you know, I think in looking at what shapes my attitude it was probably 7 year old I guess. And that's where I, that's where I go to think at least first, you know, I was. My mom told me that I couldn't do something and I remember her telling me I was at the roller rink in Anderson, Indiana actually at the time. And as a seven year old that was the first time I'd been roller skating. And the DJ asked you know, anyone basically to the middle who wants to race against the rest of the roller rink. And so I skated out to the middle and my mom really questioned whether or not I could as a first time skater whether I could or should even be at all out on the roller rink. And so as a seven year old when I was challenged by my mother whether or not I could race and then I could actually finish or finish anywhere remotely close to the top portion of those that were racing for whatever reason as a seven year old that actually caused me to go out and prove her wrong.

That's cool.

And so the first time I'm out skating, I'm winning a roller skating race as a seven year old and that has motivated me to this day. And I don't think I've shared this story with anybody but actually it might be a little creepy but I've had a Glen Bill photo hanging up in my office. I had that picture probably for two years.

Oh cool.

And it was the COVID of the real Producer magazine that you were on. And the reason why I had it hanging up was for a very similar reason. And that was I wanted a reminder of what I hadn't accomplished. I wanted a reminder that I hadn't done enough to earn the opportunity to be on a cover of a magazine. And then every month, when that magazine shipped, I wanted to look at the results of where I was and where other people who were on the COVID were. And so for month after month after month, I was out producing people on the COVID Right. And that fueled the fire that much further.

Yeah, that's.

That became bullets and board material. And so, you know, for a really long time, I think there was a portion of time where I operated from that challenger attitude, the attitude of disruption and challenging whether or not I could actually accomplish something.

Yeah, that's cool. And I love Remington. Love what he does. I've had a beef with him because I'm not sure that those numbers are accurate for many people. There's a lot of people that do different deals, different ways, and that don't. That's all my bore reported. But it's funny, when you talk about the challenge, you talk about adversity. Some agents and I used to tell people, Tony Robbins taught me this. He said, glenn, there's always going to be somebody better. And if you keep comparing yourself to other people, you're always going to be a failure. And so I want you to really start focusing on being better for you. But when we look at misinformation, and I love this idea that when, you know, so many people classify adversity as the challenge. And when we talked, you said, glenn, I've never had adversity because you love adversity. And now I get it. From the time you were 7 years old, adversity was, don't tell me I can't do it.

That's right.

You look at adversity as a challenge. I look at it as a love affair. And challenge is what fuels you. So gappers, whatever adversity you're going through, I think Eric's message to you today as hopefully you did your adversity exercises that I've encouraged you to do on the last podcast. But, God, how cool is it to see it as a challenge? Tell me, what is. What is your challenge now? What is one of your biggest challenges? Whether it's financial, personal, business, whatever. What's driving you now? Like, what are you looking at, getting done?

Yeah. And you know, when I coach business owners and agents, that's 100% of what I coach them on is you can view this as a problem, you can view it as adversity, or you can view it as a challenge for you to get better. And the real challenge, the real race, is you versus you every day, is how much better can you be tomorrow than you were today? And so the problems that we all deal with, because in life, we have no ability to outrun problems. And so if we have the mindset of they're just challenges to perform better or to grow as a person, then they never weigh us down. They're lighter than they could ever be when it's the opportunity to improve as a person. And so that's a lot of what I coach myself on. Now, with that said, does that mean that I have no adversity or nothing that I struggle with? Absolutely not. Just last week, I was journaling about a business circumstance that I'm going through that I'm trying to get an outcome that I'm not accomplishing. And I don't deal well with not accomplishing an outcome. And so I really had to sit with myself and figure out, what am I trying to solve on the inside by accomplishing something on the outside? What am I trying to gain by achievement, to make myself feel whole on the inside? Because if I'm not at peace internally and I'm trying to solve that problem through external gain, then something's missing. And what is that? What am I looking for? What have I still not made peace with internally? And having that conversation with myself through journaling and through sitting there, One of the things I've really uncovered in the last 12 months is identity is most anytime when I'm fighting for an outcome or when I'm. When I'm afraid or resisting that adversity, it's always because I'm trying to cling to my identity. And it's the identity of who either I think I am or who I want others to think that I am. And when I. When I was finally able to understand that the. The power or the. The struggle of the problem goes away.

Yeah. Yeah. So that, you know, gets into that great identity exercise. Did you have two parents growing up?

I did. Yeah.

And so, like, whose parents. Which parents love did you crave more, your mother's or your father's?

My father's.

Right. And then. So who did you have to be in order to get your dad's love?

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it was part of my journaling exercise last week, too, and.

Cool.

And I don't know if you want an answer to that question. I do. If you're. If you're. Yeah, of course. Of course. I think probably to some degree, I had to I had to be committed, responsible, intelligent, interesting, probably practical, and follow the rules, which is where the challenger piece comes in. And so what I realized was what I'm fighting with is not following the rules or not following a model or within a confines of the way something I'm being told should be played. And so I had to make peace with the fact that because I'm fighting, because I'm resisting working within a box, someone else's box, that I'm probably actually fighting against it to prove that I'm enough.

Right? Yeah. So Les Brown always said, do not let somebody else's opinion of you become the definition of you. Right. And so that's great advice that you just gave. That's you're spitting some awesome game right now. This thing on identity, some of the biggest adversity that people face is who am I and why am I here? And it's like the two greatest days of your life are the day that you're born and then the day that you know why you were born. Right?

Yeah.

And so that it sounds like we're all working on it. Talk to me. Who got you journaling? Let's do a journal lesson for our gappers. Like, right. We know 95% of America does not journal.

Of course.

And we know that the ones the 95 or the 5% that do usually have a lot higher income, a lot more fulfillment and. And have hair. Still awesome haircut, bro.

Thanks.

And by the way, your real producers, I remember when you were on Real Producers. Freaking killer blazer.

Thanks, man.

You like to dress nice.

We. I do, yeah. Yeah. It's probably the identity piece. Truly. It's likely the identity of needing to be different in standing out. The part about being more of a disruptor. And so having that uniqueness from a dress piece makes me who I am.

And that's that significance piece of emotional intelligence. So anyway, I had a compliment because you always got fly stuff on. I dig that. A lot of people don't know how to journal. They don't know and obviously that's great that you do it. Tell us what it's meant to you, but give us one or two. How did you get started? How did you get over the hurdle when somebody said to do it? If somebody's sitting in their car and they're going, hey, journaling, yeah. Help guide them on a quick two minute course on, guys, this is why you do it and here's how you do it.

Well, I'll probably take a minute longer than two, but please do as I go Back like probably any other man, I was in a relationship what would have been about nine years ago now. And in that relationship, my girlfriend at the time said, hey, Eric, you need to go to therapy. You need some counseling. You need to learn how to be better as a partner. And of course, I said, absolutely not. I am whole, and I have no areas of improvement. So I resisted it for a while and then eventually gave in and went to improve myself, but mainly for someone else. And what I found was it was actually the most liberating thing I'd ever done, and it was probably one of the most addictive things I had done as well. Because as someone who loves challenge, I love growth. And what I had the ability to understand through going through the process of therapy and of growing as a person is that I needed to understand myself better. And that as I understood who I was, more and more, I found that my results followed. As I grew as a person, I grew externally from an outcome standpoint. And so, you know, I'm a skeptic. I'm someone who is a very critical thinker. And therefore, what I can find is that at times, my attitude, if I'm not mindful of it, can go negative.

Wow.

And so if I want to be the best version of me, I have to have perspective. And the perspective comes by journaling. And so the perspective of journaling is getting back to a place of gratitude. And so every morning, I start by journaling about something that I'm grateful for. And some days are a lot easier than others. And what I realize is that I'm incredibly. You know, it's like I'm really unreasonable if it's challenging for me to be grateful about something. And so last week, I was resisting the journaling and gratitude. And I literally started as I'm grateful to be able to write.

Right.

Because if I start with something that I take for granted, it makes everything else easier.

Boy, that's good.

And, you know, I went to my girlfriend and I, we volunteered for the Tim Tebow foundation for the Night to Shine prom that they do with special needs. And, you know, I went last year to the event, and I remember sitting and watching the kings and queens that were there for this Night to Shine event and watching how much fun they were having. And here are people who are. Who oftentimes would be deemed as special needs or as different or as needing some accommodation, and yet they're having more fun at life than I am. Yes. And we would all think that because I've accomplished so much that I have so much to be happy about. And yet they were proving that they were much happier and more joyful than I was. And in that moment, I have to ask myself, what do they know that I don't know? And they know how to be grateful and present in the moment much better than I do. And so every morning now, I start by watching video on YouTube of the night to shine prom as a reminder that in all things I should be able to find joy.

I love that. And I went to a prom, a special needs prom as a date of my goddaughter. And I've talked about it before and I think the. And it's so, so beautiful. So cool. I'm like, these kids are a lot happier than the high school kids at whatever, right?

Yeah.

And I think it was. It was that whole acceptance piece too, which was one. You nailed it. But those kids are so accepting and they're no, there's just no judgment. There's no comparison. There's no, I gotta be better. Whatever. Are you on Tim Tebow's text chain and all that stuff?

I'm not. No. I need to be. It sounds like.

I'll send you his phone number. He's in my phone, so I'll do that one more time. You'll dig it. It's awesome.

That's awesome.

So Tim's really, really good and that's cool. Talk to me. You're coaching a lot of people. I know you probably do some sales coaching and I'm sure you do personal development coaching. What are the two best personal development points and the two best sales points? Because I know you love sales, right?

I do, I do. And honestly though, as. As a salesperson, in my opinion, you have to first become great at personal development in order to become world class at sales. That's because in order to connect with people, I think you have to be connected with who you are first. You have to know who you are and your identity in order to meet people where they are. So much of sales is meeting people where they are and understanding their perspective. Once you can understand someone's perspective, then you can help them go through the process of getting to an outcome. And so most everything that I coach is actually personal growth related because we bring in more head trash than anything to a sales conversation or to any relationship. And once we put the man together, then we can put the world together. Everything else falls into place when we put ourselves together. And so most of what I coach is going to be about really like emotional restraint or around mind, mind space and mindfulness just about being present. You know, I. I went on an appointment yesterday for one of my agents that she said, you know, I don't want to argue for my commission. I don't want to, I don't want to justify why I'm work worth this or defend my position as a salesperson. And I went on the appointment and never defended it at all. In fact, the objection never came up. And that's because I met the seller where she was, not where I wanted her to be. And by doing that and having the awareness of who I am and where she is, it's very easy to be the bridge, to connect the two.

Yeah. And that's the value. See, when people start hitting you on what's your fee and how much is it, they don't value you because you didn't meet them where they were.

That's right.

So that's just freaking brilliant. And that's really good. Yeah, that is really, really good. And then I know that you love the coaching thing and I know, I know that you also do speaking as well. And I know that I saw you speaking at Zillow. I think talk to me a little bit about what that whole experience was like.

Surreal. Truthfully.

Surreal.

Yeah. Yeah.

I can't believe I'm doing this.

Yeah. Well, you know, having done this now for just a little over six years, there is a piece of it that's surreal in that it was 2013. I was standing in an aisle at Menards with $10, and I wasn't looking for building materials. I had $10. And I was looking for the number of groceries that I could get for the least amount of money because I had just returned building materials. And I had a $96 store credit at Menards and I had $10 in cash, $96 in store credit, and $72,000 in credit card debt. Wow, that's some adversity. Right. And so I'm doing the math around how much dry soup and cereal can I get to last me the most amount of time to stretch? $96.

Wow.

And. And so to have been in that place in, you know, just a little over six years ago to where I am now, to where, you know, we're, we're two plus million dollar a year commission earning team. And, and to be there is. Is incredibly surreal. And so there's so much to be grateful for that a lot of times I probably don't even stop to actually think about it. Yeah. And to actually appreciate what that's like. But you know, for me, the Teaching, the coaching, speaking is all about impact. It's all about how can I help someone else go on the same journey that I've been on and to be able to have their life changed in the same way that my life has changed. I mean, that's drastic. From 70k in debt to where I am today.

And that's why we do this podcast, because there's people out there right now drowning in debt that may only have 10 bucks. So how long can you eat on 10 bucks?

You know, if you're willing to eat dry soup and cereal, a really long time, right?

Maybe a couple weeks.

Oh, yeah.

I love it, Eric. That's so awesome that you're vulnerable enough to let our people know. Because, guys, the people that are on our show, although they have incredible followings and make millions of dollars in professional athletics and write books, they are all right there where we all were. We're all just normal people that sought the advice, that bridged the gap from who they are to who they want to become by seeking and finding. And the answers are there. And we always want you to know that the Get Attitude podcast is a place to find the answer. So if you're struggling, if you know somebody that is struggling, please share out this podcast. Because you know what? Every single person we have on here is vulnerable. They're good. They give you tricks, they give you real life stories that will give you hope and inspiration. So we are here with Mr. Eric Forny, entrepreneur and president of the Eric Forney group. He has 300. Excuse me, he sold 300 homes with four agents. Guys, this is a super producer. He's got about 100 agents in his organization doing 1500 transactions. He's got a podcast, Coffee with Closers, and I've listened to it and it's awesome. If you are one of our real estate listeners, I know there's plenty of it. You want to hit his podcast on Coffee with Closers. And if you are in need of some business coaching, I'm telling you, he's good, he's different. I've interviewed a lot of coaches and he's been great. So, Eric, thank you for all that.

Thanks, Glenn.

Alright, so we're going to do Knowledge through the decades. Man, I don't know. Do you remember the day you were born?

I absolutely do not.

You're sure?

I'm pretty confident.

Sometimes I have people that say they do.

Are you serious?

Yeah. Oh yeah. I've had people go, oh yeah. I remember when I was born, I'm like, okay, let's roll with it.

Okay.

That's the attitude.

Wow.

All right, so tell me, Eric, you have a child.

Yep.

Yeah. So you can think about that, but when you think about a newborn baby or the birth of your child, what was the attitude lesson from birth that you think people can take?

Honest. I think about honesty, especially with. With my own child, because what I've learned is that he always says what he wants.

Yes.

And as an adult, we're so much more broken than children. And sometimes he's so honest as a three year old that he'll tell me, like, dad, I want a popsicle for breakfast. And in that exact moment, I might resist giving him a popsicle. Of course. However, it always reminds me that he always says what he wants. And why, as adults, do we not have permission to do that?

That's great. I mean, beautiful lesson. What would happen if for the next week you just said what you wanted and. And how many husbands and wives would probably have a much better relationship with Christ?

That's right. It would be messy at first until we made peace with actually saying what we needed.

Just say what you want. Yeah. And what you want and what you need might be two different things, but many times they're similar. But a valid thought nonetheless. A very useful exercise. And if you were inspired by Eric's thoughts about journaling, perhaps that could be the very first journal entry. What do I want and what do I need? Truly. So now what we're going to do is. You're growing up. Did you grow up in Anderson?

Close to it. In Pendleton?

Yeah, in Pendleton.

A little tiny town called Markleville.

Oh, I know Markleville.

Okay. Yeah. Okay. More cows than people there.

Yeah. Did you. And then did you go to Pendleton Heights?

I did, yeah.

Nice. Did you wrestle there at all?

Just as a little kid?

Okay.

I played baseball there.

Ah, nice. Great baseball team. Yeah. You. Did you play in college?

I did not know. No, I actually was in. I went to school on a radio and television scholarship.

Really?

Yeah. I wanted to be Marv Albert when I was a little kid. Until he started kidding. Yeah. Not being marvel. Yeah.

And so where'd you go to college?

Indiana State.

Oh, you're an ISU guy. My son went to Indiana State and I spent many a Saturday mornings at the Pendleton Height regionals Wrestling.

Okay.

And great community.

Yeah.

Great people, Pendleton. So good. So, all right, there you are in Markleville at 10 years old. What is your attitude lesson at 10, if you can remember?

I think it's probably four. Fun versus friction. And when I think about you know that, that decade, it's all about play and fun. And so it was always. It was always basketball or it was baseball. Anything that was activity related.

Cool.

But never any focus on anything that wasn't going well.

Yeah. And so you know what? Fun is a great part of life. Fun sometimes isn't what we focus on.

Yeah.

And sometimes when we wake up to boost our attitudes, we should say, let's make today all about fun. What if you made one day a week all about fun? And what does that day look like if you could identify what activities? So that's beautiful. The idea you're allowed to have fun. So many people feel guilty for having fun. Right. So many people get pissed off when they see other people having fun. And that's just because Jeffrey Gittamer always says the reason people want to rain on your parade is because they got no parade of their own, baby. So I love that. All right, so now you're through high school, Pendleton Heights, you're hanging out at the Ballyhoo at Indiana State. You're 20, 21. Way too much.

Yeah.

Way too much. Right? I know. So did my son. But, God, it's a great bar.

It is.

Ballyhoo. We are looking for a sponsor for this podcast. So tell me your attitude lesson at 21.

I think it's probably the dark side, I think about. The dark side to me is when you go internal and think about everything as us versus me versus them or us versus them. And I think that at times that can serve you well, but is unsustainable. And so as a young meatheaded adult, that's the default programming, I think, is it's me proving me against the world as I try to become an adult.

Yeah. Very inwardly focused. And so, yeah, the lesson there is probably. You're glad you're out of that.

Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. Because there's nothing that really can be built to an incredibly high level and find fulfillment that way.

And so we have gappers 20 to 25. And boy, I was there. And I had, I think, three or four kids by the time I was 25. But anyway, for those guys, what. What's Your advice to 20 to 25 years old who are going, I can't find a job. I don't like my job. They don't pay me enough. I have a few kids this age. So I, you know, everybody's against me. What's your advice like? Talk, talk, talk to them right now on what you would say to them.

Who cares? Yeah. Honestly, in the sense of who cares? It's not supposed to be easy.

That's so good.

And it is through that adversity that actually molds you into who you become in the next decade of life. And so you know, for, for me and my, you know, my first job was $25,000 a year. And, and when I left, the 200 people applied for that position. And so what was it? I was actually in television at the time. And so there's no pay you in TV because yeah, everybody wants your job.

Right.

And so, you know, and then next I sold paint and here I am selling to, I'm selling paint as a 25 year old and I had no life's ambitions around selling paint. And yet the, the reality is where I am today is a, is a big byproduct of what I learned through selling paint and going through that maturation period and being taught and completely different side of, of business that I knew nothing about.

What was your attitude about being unemployed or staying unemployed?

You know, I was on it. I was unemployed for two months when I, when I switched careers. And probably the first two weeks I enjoyed it and then I hated it.

Yeah, I had a feeling.

Yeah, I hated it. And I thought it would be a lot more enjoyable than it was. And what I realized, I just wasn't contributing. And so without contribution there is no fulfillment.

Yeah, right. And contribution again, one of the emotional needs of humankind. So that is good. So 20 to 25, nobody gives a shit.

No.

Right. And stay employed. Yeah, that's two really good, two really good life lessons from Eric Forney. Okay, Eric, so Now you turn 30 and I'm guessing that's about the time you said, now I'm getting ready to make a major change.

Right.

Talk to me about the attitude lesson at 30 and what it was like to do that.

You know, I think it's. That decade would probably be. This decade's probably the light side, I guess. And you know, I sold paint for two years, the first two years while I was a real estate agent. So I worked basically two full time careers. And a large reason why is because I was afraid to give up the security of having a salary and having a company car and, and everything that comes with the stability side of a corporate sales job. And then eventually when I did let go of that part, then it was up to me to obviously be sustainable and grow a business. And in order to do that, what I realized was that while I was having great success as an individual agent, I was out of. There was only seven days in A week. And I was all out of days. In order to continue to grow, and if I was going to continue to grow, I first had to grow myself. So that's where the light side I think comes in, is that I had to go through the maturation process of becoming a leader that people would actually want to follow in order to get to where I wanted to take my business next. And so, you know, it is a non stop journey that continues every day of evolving as a person. And that's where the light side of it is. How do I find fulfillment? Fulfillment in becoming who I want to be in order to get what I want to accomplish. And yet all along the way actually find fulfillment. Because success without fulfillment is incredibly empty. And I've had the success piece. I've had milestones that I've wanted to accomplish. And as soon as those goals are achieved, then you write down a new goal.

Yeah.

And. And that gets tiring. And so. So I had to find another reason to be driven to accomplished. And. And the light side is how do I. How do I accomplish and multiply others at the same time?

That's cool. And so you. You spit some great wisdom here, man, and I appreciate that. But since you're 40, I got to. You're not 40.

No.

Yeah. I got to stop and maybe you'll come back and see us. Tell me with what you just said. Who. Obviously you've been studying some people, man. So, like, who's your big influences? And is there a book or a speaker or whatever that you go, this dude, I freaking love him. He's been good for me.

Well, of course. Glen. Bill.

Oh, you're sweet.

That's nice. That's right. So I think for. I think probably like most, the gateway drug for me was Tony Robbins.

Nice. Did you do all the things and walk on the coals?

I did not, no. I've actually never been to was. I've been a YouTube junkie. That's how I've learned anything.

And I walked on Coles.

Did you.

You know his. So when I did Tony and what he does now, he can't do what he did when I did it. And I feel so sad because it was just me and 10,000 people back then.

Just you and 10,000, that's it.

Now it's 35 and he can't do. And you know, the. The freaking. The cold walks and all that. It's. It's just. I mean, I know it's great. It's life changing, but I feel so bad for the people back When I did it, man, which was 10, 15 years ago, it was just. It was just us in 10,000. But. So. All right, so you. So, Tony, for sure. Did you do the seven day Challenge?

No, I didn't. You know, I just started with. Too busy. I just started with personal power. Anything that was like, that was YouTube that I could find that would be Tony Robbins related.

And. And the point there is. Sorry to interrupt. It's out there. All you gotta do is absolutely freaking pull it up, guys.

Yeah. I mean, we live in an era where if you're not growing, it's a choice.

Yeah.

It's a choice that you. You haven't sought out the information or the willingness to change because truthfully, everything you could ever want to grow as a person is available.

Amen.

And, you know, my. My coach said to me last week as I sent him my journal, actually, as I was. Was trying to make peace with some of the challenges I'm having, was that he's like, you just have to ask yourself better questions. You're not asking the right questions. And that was a punch in the face moment for me, because then it forced me to go, okay, well, what am I actually not seeking the answers to then? It could actually make this go away. Knowing that the answers are available right now.

Yeah. And we've said this a million times. The quality of your life is determined by the quality of the questions you ask yourself about your life.

Absolutely.

Do you want to give your coach any pub or do you not want anybody to know?

No, that's okay. No. His name is Adam Hergenrauther. Yeah, he's been amazing impact for me. He's also an entrepreneur out of Vermont. And a lot of what we coach on right now is. Is through.

Do you work with him then, too?

I do. Yeah. So he. Yep. So he's a KW owner, I think. Oh, I think they're the. I'm not mistaken. I think they're the. Probably the fourth team in the Wall Street Journal. Real trends report. Yeah. So a lot of what we do right now, I'm in some immersion coaching with him, and we do a lot of, like, spiritual coaching around mindfulness and meditation right now.

Cool. And so. And you said you have a son, is that right?

Yep. He's three.

What's his name?

His name is Hudson.

And wife.

Yep. Lauren.

Yep. Lauren. Lauren Hudson. She.

Yeah, she's way better than me and out of my league, of course.

Yes. And how's her attitude?

So much better. I mean, she is. She is 10 out of 10. Optimism.

That's good.

So some people, as I'm sure you know, she wakes up and is 10 out of 10 optimism. I have to do the journaling, the gratitude, and get in the actual daily habit of getting that mindset.

Yeah. Well, I know we always got to give our wives and kids credit, right? Because they're the ones that we do hopefully all this stuff for. Okay, well, let me tell you something, Mr. Eric Forney. You've been great. I know that there are people that are going to change. I know there's people that are going to grow, that are going to see that are going to hopefully start to journal and that will hopefully say, hey, you know what? I got a lot in common with this guy, and this guy did it. He bridged the gap from who he was to he wanted to become. And sounds like you're still on the bridge.

Absolutely. Every day.

Yeah. To be honest with you. So thank you so much. We're so grateful for your heartfelt stories and antidotes for your vulnerability, and we wish you the well. Please check out Eric Forney. Follow him, Facebook him. See what he's doing. I promise you, 10 years from now, that's going to be a guy that. That is changing things at a high level. So thanks so much.

Thanks, Glenn. I appreciate it. Thank you.

All right, buddy. This podcast is a part of the C Suite Radio Network. For more top business podcasts, visit c-sweetradio.com.