How to Build & Scale a 7-Figure Business (The Masterclass Every Entrepreneur Needs)

Say I'll sound like a hypocrite because I tell people, go singularity of focus right now on the one thing. And when people go, well, I don't know what my one thing is. Do I get the position of the CEO? Absolutely. Do I want it? I actually came to the conclusion, no, I don't. I don't. It actually stresses me out. I don't want to walk into these L10 meetings every week and then say, no, guys, I'm sorry, but since I'm Bedros, you can't fire me. You can't chastise me. I can just ask for an extension on my deadline, right? Which then creates a bottleneck for everybody else. And as the business gets more complex, let's create a new process. 300 locations. We added a few more processes in place, 500 locations, added more processes, and then had to get rid of some people because they weren't able to run the complex processes. I could stay awake till 2 in the morning, watch TV, goof off, eat bagels, do whatever I want because I was stress eat. I'm an emotional and stress. I was an emotional and stress eater. I wasn't a good leader. I wouldn't show up to meetings on time. And when I would show up, I was unprepared. And because of that, I would start feeling anxiety. And all that led to a massive panic attack. Chest gets tight, tunnel vision, hearts racing, sweaty palms. Both arms are, like, tingling. And I remember reading somewhere, like in some high school, like, health class, that, like, if an arm tingles, you're having a heart attack. So I'm like, fuck. Both arms are tingling. This is the big one. This is how I go. So as I stumble down the staircase, I don't know if it's the fresh air, I don't know if it was the movement. All of a sudden, this. All these feelings went away, and I'm left in a sweaty puddle. I was like, holy. I think I just dodged a heart attack. Billion dollar company comes with billion dollar headaches. But I'd rather have billion dollar headaches than third world problems, which are. I can't even keep my lights on.

All right, So I am so excited to have Bedroulian sitting in front of me. And you are just literally the epitome of the American dream. I mean, you went through severe trauma as a child that most normal people would never be able to overcome. Your family escaped communism, and you're an immigrant to the United States, and you just. We were just talking offline, and your father came with $200 in his pocket with his whole family. And then you went through, obviously a childhood of struggled with addiction and food addiction, which we share in common. That's always been my biggest culprit. And then you went on to build multiple multi hundred million dollar companies. You have the largest fitness franchise globally with 500, approximately 500 franchise locations called Fit Body Bootcamp. You are a speaker. You're a bestselling author on the New York Times bestseller list for your book Man Up. And you're also one of the most renowned business coaches out there. And I know I look up to you so much. And my friend Maisy's here right now and she's just been following you for the longest time.

Thank you, by the way.

I appreciate that. But, man, you just like, you've done it all, Bedros, and I respect you so much because you not only, like, demand your highest potential, you actually go claim it. And not only do you do it for yourself, but you do it for other people too, and you push other people to do it. And it's like, we have this one life and so many people play it so safe and they play it so small.

And.

And you inspire people to live their best life and create an empire and not sacrifice their family, not sacrifice their health, not sacrifice their sanity, like their mental health, their relationships, and still dream big, Push big. Take accountability, take responsibility, stop drinking the liquor, stop smoking the weed, stop watching the porn, stop doing all this shit that controls you and, like, create a beautiful life. And that's everything that I want to do. So I'm really inspired by you and I'm just really honored to have you.

How old are you?

28.

28. Just know that I'm 50. I know I shared that with you before the mic started to roll, but your audience needs to know I'm 50. So between 28 and 50, you will experience stress fractures. Stress fractures are good. You look at stress fractures in a bone or you look at scar tissue on the human body, it's always the strongest part of that bone or the body. And so to get to where I am and where others like me are at, you don't get there unscathed. Just so you know. Right. Everything you mentioned, I can check off, check off, check off, check off, check off. But that doesn't mean someone young like you learning that you want to encounter your own variations and versions of it, because you're about to start demanding even more of yourself limits. Like, you don't even know how much risk tolerance it's going to take how much shit you're going to have to eat, how many decisions you're going to have to make without having even 50% of the information you need to make the right decision. Decisions that you'll make that will cost you hundreds of thousands when you're small, that will cost you millions when you're at my level. I make them often and those decisions happen. But that's part of the game. And if you can accept that that's what it takes to get on the field from the bleachers. It's a beautiful game. But you're going to walk off the field sometimes dazed and confused, sometimes limping, and that's okay. That's the game of life. Most people are spectators in the bleachers and I invite people to get on the field, but I'm also brutally honest and letting them know, like you can watch me and others and talk about addictions and abuse and fucked up relationships and this, that and the other, and then you'll go and create your own variations of it. Because to get to this level there's a lot of sacrifice, risk decisions that have to be made that some might even call ruthless.

So for somebody like me, I have a dream of building a billion dollar empire and I want to be a billionaire and I want to serve as many thousands of people as I possibly can. And I know my purpose on this earth and I know that God gave me a gift to create. And I'm a creator, I'm a textbook visionary. And so, you know, for somebody that has it together, that has the vision, that has the discipline, that has the responsibility and I see it all. I just like, I see everything, I see how it needs to happen, how it has to work, who needs to be in place to make it happen. But yet I am so far from that. It's like the tunnel is so long and I could see it happening in so many different ways. Like there's so many opportunities I could be successful in so many businesses and so many decisions and I almost get like I'm in this analysis paralysis right now of I don't know what to focus on because I have my real estate brokerage and I just launched a debt fund and a lending company and I see that scaling nationally and having a big exit. But I also see like being a one stop shop for real estate investors and really having an edge where we help investors find the deal and fund the deal and sell the deal. And if they don't want to do it active, they can passively invest in the deal. I love Your advice on scaling. Do you think that as a textbook entrepreneur and you're somebody that's involved in multiple businesses, should someone really just dial in and focus on one thing and master that first before they do other things? Or do you think somebody can be successful building and scaling multiple companies at once?

So I'm going to sound like a hypocrite when I say someone can be very successful building and scaling multiple companies at once. However, once you've built your first big empire, and the reason is when you build your first big business for me was Fit Body Boot Camp, right? I started Fit Body Boot Camp. I went singularity of focus on it like nothing else mattered. I wanted to start a supplement company and an apparel company a decade and a half ago, but I was like, until I have at least 400 fit body bootcamp locations. Singularity of focus. Because I knew that if I could do that, it would give me so much freedom money that I can then buy leaders from my other companies. And so today there's a gentleman named Bryce Henson, one of my mentees from many, many years ago. He, he's the current CEO of Fit Body Bootcamp. He has a full commitment of Fit Body Boot Camp. I meet with him once a month and him and his leadership team of Fit Body Boot Camp and then they do the daily execution. Same with my supplement company, Jeff Rosenquist, he's the VP of it. I meet with him once a week because my supplement company is only four years old, so still needs a little more daddy time. So I meet with them once a week instead of once a month. But they go and execute Fuel Hunt Apparel, now an eight figure company. When I got on board, they were making approximately $1500 a day in sales. That was two years ago. Today, 25 $30,000 a day in sales of apparel, Rash guards for Jiu Jitsu, combat shorts, and then just made in America cool T shirts and stuff. But I share that with you because I had dreams of all of those things, but I had gone singularity of focus. And I say I'll sound like a hypocrite because I tell people go singularity of focus right now on the one thing. And when people go, well, I don't know what my one thing is because I'm a visionary. I'm an eagle, right? Cool might sound harsh, but I always say, well, if I were to put a gun to your head and make you pick one, what would you pick? Everyone knows the answer. When there's a metaphorical gun to your head, you know the answer. You Start with that one, but that doesn't mean we're killing the rest. We're just putting it on pause. You make this one so profitable and so systematized, you put a leader in and then with the rest. Now, new companies that I either acquire or start, I start them with leaders in place. I don't figure out what do I need to do to launch. Like, let's say I was going to create a software company. I wouldn't go, what do I need to do to create a software company? I say, who do I need to get to help me bring this vision of a software company to life? If I want to start an automotive company, who not what do I need to do? Right? But I'm at a place where I could deploy my money, hire people and teams and create processes and then they can execute. So go singularity of focus. When that's given you enough freedom money, you can start hiring teams and people. And now literally do what I do. I can take equity in as many companies as I want. And even yesterday I was on a phone call with this dude and he's like, man, I just want to give you equity in my company. We have three partners, but we'll divide it up four ways. You'll have 25%. You don't have to buy in. Da, da. I'm like, actually, I like your industry, but I don't want to be in it. It's in the jiu jitsu, competitive, like combat fighting things. But like, I don't want to be in it. Because you'll get to a place as you build your personal brand off this one thing, as you build freedom, money as you are known as, you write a book on it, you're the expert about it. Now you have so many people who want to work with you and for you, you can bring all your other visions to life a lot quicker. Does that make sense?

Oh, yeah, because I love that. Who, not how. Right? You've read that book, right? It's such a great book. And it helped me as I grew my business. But to get to where I got so far, it was just a grind. It was. I was in the weeds of everything, wearing all the hats and then hiring an assistant, teaching the assistant, hiring an ea, teaching the ea. But I've never been able to have the. At this point, I haven't had the capital or the capacity or the wherewithal to hire from the top down. And so like, for instance, for this new lending company, if I had a gun in my head, it's the lending company because I see the scalability, I see the EBITDA multiple I could get, I see the freedom that it brings in, the work from anywhere and the virtual model and all these things and the need for asset based loans like that's never going away. And I hate working with traditional banks myself. So it was fulfilling my own need. But what's got me here is not the lending company. That's a new thing. What got me here was the real estate brokerage. And so it's almost like almost letting go of what got me here. To get me there.

Yeah.

And take the leap of faith into a vision that I haven't actually executed on. How do you find that? Who, how do you find a players?

That's a really good question. So you're not going to find a players by putting out ads on. Indeed. And other platforms. Right. Because I always say if someone in an economy like this doesn't have a job, they're not an A level. They're probably B minus, C level players. And so you have to remember I said there's ruthlessness involved at this level. You have to recruit. So if I know, for example, let's say the lending company, you're like, if I had a gun to my head, it's the lending company. But I've got this real estate brokerage that has done well for me, but I know I could still scale it. All right, well, I'm going to go find a second in command for someone else's thriving real estate company and poach them, Offer them an opportunity. An opportunity where they can get mentorship, access to people, maybe equity where they won't be able to get equity there. Maybe a future partnership, whatever it might be. But I'm going to recruit. Poaching sounds a little aggressive. You can say recruit and I've done that for my, for my Fit Body Boot Camp brand. We needed a compliance officer, but we didn't want to groom one from the ground up because it takes some time. Federal Trade Commission oversees franchises. So as a franchisor, I have to constantly groom, communicate with the Federal Trade Commission. That's a pain in the ass. Federal Trade Commission makes franchises have a compliance officer so that we comply with whatever the Federal Trade Commission wants. So rather than trying to groom one and build one from the ground up, I went to some successful franchise brands that I felt were similar to what we do as Fit Body Boot camp and through LinkedIn reached out to a whole bunch of people and several of them showed interest. One of them was a good fit Fit and we welcomed her on board. And so if you're able to recruit, you can find the who's a lot faster. If you try and build and develop or hire by putting out ads on indeed or you know, monster jobs or whatever, it's going to take a long time because the people that don't have a job right now are the bottom of the barrel. That's just reality. So I'm going to get a C level player who's probably burnt out. Their heydays are decades behind them and they're going to talk about what they used to do instead of what they're able to do. I want to recruit from a company that's growing, thriving and just bring that person here and say run the play. Does that make sense?

Oh, yeah. In the real estate brokerage industry, recruiters don't recruit like recruiting companies that I haven't been able to find ones that recruit them because they're mostly commission based. But that would be, you know, somebody like that in any traditional brokerage structure is 100% commission. So recruiter recruiting companies don't.

But right. You would be the one recruiting.

Yeah.

So you wouldn't hire a recruiting company. You'd be the one going, all right, who within the 100 miles from here?

Yep.

Right.

And I just reach out directly. How do you feel about recruiting companies for other roles to find C suite executives or to find partners?

I've got a few coaching clients that they've worked for. One of my coaching clients, Ashley Lucas, she has a 22 million dollar weight loss business. And we're in the process of two more years and she'll be exiting. She's been with me three years now, so she'll have spent five years with me. She'll be exiting just like me. She's like, look, I'm unemployable. I can't sell this company and then go work for the private equity that buys it. Which is why I bought Bryson as my CEO. Right. When I go to sell FitBody Boot Camp, I'm not going to all of a sudden have a job working as the CEO for Fit Body. So I brought Bryson so he could go with the company. And so we're in the process of looking for a second in command for Ashley for PhD weight loss. And we've kissed a lot of toads, but we found a prince and we think he's the guy. So recruiting companies do work, but you're gonna have to kiss a lot of toads. Right. Because you're relying on them to go find Someone from their pool and their pool, there might be people that they've talked to before they plugged into here. They, they quit or didn't pan out there. So now they're gonna try and plug them into your company. So whenever possible, I'd rather you go out and do that work. Friscilla has a really good, good saying. He says, success is found in inefficiencies. And when I heard him say that at, at a. We were sitting in a green room at Dan Fleischman's event many years ago and I was like, dude, say that again. He said, success is found in inefficiencies. I said, you're absolutely right. There's some things that are inefficient. Like I should probably delegate my assistant to do or second in command. But I need to do it and it's inefficient. But only I could do it to the level that I need and find that right person for that right role. If we're looking for a marketing person or head of sales, my team members can go find it. But if I'm looking for a second in command, I'm going to go find this person. It's very inefficient to do that for me. I don't have a lot of time, nor do I have a lot of patience, but I'm going to go do it because I'm likely going to find the right person. So recruiting companies do work, but nine out of 10 times, you're going to find the best people for yourself.

You mentioned one time that you realized you had a bad team at some point in your. And I'm sure that's not one time.

Yeah, I'm the king of many times.

Yeah. So, I mean, we talked about the part of finding those A players, but how do you know if someone really is right for the role and people are in the right seat seats and are the right players for the team and like, how do you decipher that and determine that and adjust for that and try to put people in the right seats?

Yeah, that's a really good question. So I could almost look at my entrepreneurship career now. I'm 26 years in now as an entrepreneur and I could look at my entrepreneurship career pre 2013 and then post 2013. And it was in 2013 that I learned about EOS. Right. Traction. Gino Wickman. And then that same year, someone, Craig Ballantyne, sent me Dan Kennedy's book, Ruthless Management of People and Profits.

I haven't read that one great book.

You obviously know who Dan Kennedy is. You have clearly studied direct response. You know this. But Dan Kennedy's ruthless management of people and profits and Wickman's book Traction opened my eyes. And once you do the people analyzer, you quickly know whether you got the right seat on the bus or not. If there's a third book I would recommend in terms of finding the right people, it would be good to. Great.

By Jim Collins.

Jim Collins.

I'm reading it right now.

Exactly. Great book. Between those three books, you learn one very specific thing. First, the GWC filter. Does this individual that I have in this seat, do they get the position? Do they want the position and do they have the capacity to perform the position? Gwc, right now, no more emotions. Now you're not thinking like, well, you know, B and I hang out, we get lunch together, we work out together, we're homies, we're friends. Friends. And I think he gets it, he wants it, he has a capacity. I just haven't done a good job training him up. Nope, forget all that. No emotional connection. Because when you're doing eos, you elevate to a board member, an advisor instead of the actual role that you have in your company and you go, what's best for the company? Does Bryce. I got EOS'd out of my own company, Fit Body Boot Camp. Not out as in like you're gone. But I was the CEO, Bryce was my VP. And one day we're sitting in a, in an L10 meeting, level 10 meeting. For your audience who doesn't know, just read the book Traction by Geno Wickman, Follow that up by Rocket Fuel. Same guy, Gino Wickman. And then install eos. In fact, I won't even take equity in a company unless part of that deal is that they will start using EOs and they'll start using Brian Underhill, my EOS implementer and all the companies that I've taken the equity in because he's like this fucking savant where EOS implementation is concerned. So anyways, one day we're sitting at a level 10 meeting which is part of EOS, and, and Bryce is going through. He's my, I'm the visionary and he's my integrator using the EOS terms. And he says, going over the rocks and Hey B, did you get this rock done? No, not done yet. B, did you get that rock? Rock done? No, not done yet. And he turned to Brittany and his second in command and she kind of gave him a nod and they had already pre planned this out like if this happened again, because this was now like the third week of me saying, sorry, guys, I need more time to get my rocks done right, My deadlines. So he's like, hey, B, we want to use the people analyzer on you and see if you're a good fit for the visionary position. I was like, fair enough, I can be open minded. And when they GWC filtered me, do I get the position of the CEO? Absolutely. Do I want it? I actually came to the conclusion, no, I don't, I don't. It actually stresses me out. I don't want to walk into these L10 meetings every week and then say, no, guys, I'm sorry, but since I'm Bedros, you can't fire me. You can't chastise me. I can just ask for an extension on my deadline, right? Which then creates a bottleneck for everybody else. So I had the capacity. I have the C, I have the G, but I didn't have the W. I didn't, not anymore, Right? Because I got too many things going on. And so Bryce said, I think I have a solution because you no longer qualify for the visionary seat. I go, what's your solution? He goes, I'll step into visionary position. I was like, all right, wise guy. I could see that. You've been with me for eight years now. Who's going to be our integrator? And he looks at Brittany. They had already worked it out and what a beautiful transition it was. And I now sit in what's known as the owner's box, right? And so I just meet with them once a month instead of once a week. I don't have any rocks to move forward. I might have to send a text message to someone high up somewhere. But that's about the extent of my involvement in Fit Body Bootcamp. But I say this because with Traction, you're going to learn the People analyzer and the GWC filter with good to great. You're going to learn if you have the right person on the bus, but maybe they're in the wrong seat. And then you can put them in the right seat on the bus or pull the damn bus over and kick them out. And then with ruthless management of people and profits, you're going to learn to fire fast, higher, slow. And you're going to understand that every single team member, from the lowest level to the highest level team member, has a walking P and L above their head. Like, imagine if I looked at you and right over you was this holographic profit and loss report. And I Could see if Hannah is making me money or losing me money. If you're an asset or a liability, and I look at this P and L report in two halves. Money. Are you making me money or losing me money? And then are you irritating me or bringing in good culture into my organization? Right, because you might have people who are profitable. They're making you money. They're not a financial liability, but they are a human liability in terms of they're banging half the sales team, or they're showing up late, or the culture's completely toxic because. Because of this person, they're just as bad as someone who's not making you money. And then you have to fire fast and replace them slowly.

So. Good.

Yeah.

And I'm just now starting eos. I start with my trainer, my EOS implementer. The end of the month, actually.

If you're not happy with him or her, just reach out to Joan.

Okay.

And ask for an introduction to Brian Underhill. And I don't make a penny from him.

Like, thank you.

Any of that. It's just he's a. He's one of those, like, slightly autistic. God, Brian, I hope you. You're not listening to this. Slightly autistic, goofy. And then he's mega tall, lanky, gangly, looks like giraffe arms and legs. And one day, after about three EOS meetings, I'm like, hey, come here. He's like, what's going on? I go, now that we're on a break and my team's not in here, how much cocaine do you use? He goes, no, no, I have Tourette's. And he sticks his tongue out. He goes, look, I chew on my tongue and I snort. I'm like, all right. So other than that, like, he's a brilliant human being, and that just makes him cute, anyway, Lovable. So, anyway, if you need a good EOS implementer, he's your man.

Okay, awesome. Thank you. That's a funny story.

Yeah. I swore that he was coked up, and I was gonna, like, kick him out of my company. Like, it turns out the guy's got, like, Tourette's.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So part of what I'm also doing is building a personal brand. And right now, a lot of time, energy, money, and attention is going into that. And I love. Like, this. I would do this a hundred hours a week. I love this. And people are like, well, how are you monetizing? I'm like, I'm not doing it to monetize it right now, but it is part of the Bigger vision of building a brand and having influence and being able to impact people's lives and being able to make money and build an empire. So did you build your companies first and become super successful first before you started building your personal brand, or did you build it alongside it? And what role has that played in the building of your companies? And what would you advise? Like, what time someone like me allocates to doing stuff like this? Building the brand, producing the content, but versus focusing and grinding and like being in the business and building businesses.

If I were to go back to 28 years old, I would spend even more time building my brand, creating content and building my network, and less time in the weeds. But I didn't know that, right? Years earlier, I should have hired a second in command. But I was like, no one, this is my baby. No one can treat my baby like I can. No one knows the ins and outs. Guess what? All businesses are simple. It breaks down to three Ps, the product, whatever the product. Product is the people as everything from you on down, and then the processes. So if I've got a great product, I just need to hire good people who aren't retarded, who can run great processes. And as the business gets more complex, let's create a new process, right? When we had 100 locations at FitBody Boot Camp, we had some simple processes, 300 locations, we added a few more processes in place, 500 locations, added more processes, and then had to get rid of some people because they weren't able to run the complex processes. So brought in better people to run the more complex processes. And things are going great, right? So it's product, people, processes. And as long as you can figure that out, then you go, all right, I can step out and become the visionary full time. It was in 2013 when I did a Spike TV reality show with Randy Couture, MMA UFC fighter. And do you remember the TV show Bar Rescue?

I don't watch TV.

Oh, you ruined that one.

Sorry.

No worries. Someone in your audience remembers a TV show. I think it's still out there. They were called Bar Rescue. This guy, John Taffer, they take this shitty dive bar that's like struggling, barely paying its bills. There's all this drama. And John Taffer, who knows how to make bars successful, goes in there. He's like, all right, the stool's got to be this high and the bar needs to look like this and lighting needs to be there and the windows need to be open and whatever. And he turns his bar around, right? So Spike TV started that, and the show's been running very successfully for many years. So then they were like, you know what? What other business like that can we turn around pretty quickly? Aha. Gyms. So they hire me and Randy Couture to do Gym Rescue. And so we did the pilot. Pilot blew up, took off. Wonderful. So we start filming episodes. By episode number three, Randy Couture gets a phone call from Sylvester Stallone, like, hey, man, we want you an Expendables. He looks at me, he's like, buddy, like, if I leave, the show's gone. I go, exactly. Should I just turn down Sylvester Stallone? I was like, that's a very bad idea. Go do Expendables. So he let the cast and crew know, and off he went. And I certainly didn't have the star power like he does to carry it. I'm the expert and he's like the host, right? And so because he's got the star power, that was the end of Gym Rescue. However, in those four episodes that aired in 2013, I saw how quickly people were like, oh, my God. Stopping me at places like, you're the guy Fit Body Boot Camp. And you were like going into all these different gyms with Randy Couture and turning him around. And it's like, holy shit. Now, obviously, in 2013, YouTube or Facebook or whatever, they were around, but they weren't thriving. Even before that, I had a blog and I was blogging every day and I was. The comments on those blogs were blowing up and I was giving away free report, direct response stuff to get email addresses. And I would always, like, build relationships with those people on my email list and time collapse the know like and trust factor, and then make them several offers, get them on the phone, put them in a mastermind, start a licensing program, whatever it was. And so when social media came around and I saw at the same time from that Spike TV show what being on television could do for you, all of a sudden people are like, whatever it costs to pay you to help me turn my gym around, I'm down. No objections. No. I need to get to know you, like you and trust you. Can I talk to some people that you've helped? Just, I saw you on TV and I want to pay you. Okay? So I learned very quickly that personal, brand and network matter. And if you can do that, it's friends making money with friends, this relationship right here. Who knows? Three years from now, we might be putting up a massive development somewhere together, right? I might be someone helping fund a massive development. I Might make a connection for you. Because I'm like, you know what? Hannah does this, and this friend wants to do that. Hey, here's a connection. It's always about friends making money with friends. And if you're in the weeds running your business, you're not looking up and out, you're looking down and in. If you're looking down and in, you're going to miss all the opportunities that are up and out, like connections, network, content, brand, audience. And so, yeah, your instincts are right. Build your personal brand of the right people with the right message. Make as many connections as you can. Add as much value to the lives of those connections, those people that you're connected to, and then build so much money in the Goodwill bank account so that when you have to make a withdrawal, like, I'm like, yes, Hannah, I'll gladly help you because you've connected me to 10 people that have bought this many Fit Body Boot Camp locations, became coaching clients, or helped me get this other thing off the ground. How can I help you? Right? Like, that's all I've done ever since 2010, because that's when I got into Joe Polish's mastermind. And that's when Joe was like, I realized how connected he was, and all he was doing was doing things for others, expecting nothing back. I was like, this motherfucker's onto something. And I was like, hey, what? What is this that you do? He's like, well, the more I can build in the Goodwill bank account, the more withdrawals I can have in the future. And those withdrawals can show up in many ways. I. I can ask people to speak on my stage. I can ask people to co author a book with me. I can ask people to let me borrow money to launch a new project or business or whatever. And I was like, holy smokes, he's onto something. And that's what I need to start doing. And so the more you do that, the more you build your personal brand, the faster your empire is built. And when a disaster like the COVID comes, right, you can reach out to friends again, friends making money with friends, and be like, hey, look, my industry right now, Fit Body Bootcamp, is crumbling. That was 218 locations in not even one year, in 10 months, right from March 16, when I told all Fit Body Boot Camp owners to shut their doors for two weeks because we're going to flatten the curve. But because I'm a former communist, I come from a communist country, I don't trust the government. I turned to Bryce and I said, start making workouts that we can do beyond those two weeks via Zoom for all the clients across all the Fit Body Boot Camp locations. Because if the clients leave the locations, the locations stop paying us franchise fees and we are out of business. Right. Because I knew that that was going to happen. I had a gut feeling it was going to go beyond the two weeks. Clearly, it did. We only lost 210 locations. Unlike Orange Theory or F45, we did not sell off a single percentage of equity. And the vultures were circling, offering us pennies on the dollar. And we're like, hey, we're good. Because we were already preemptively training clients via Zoom in private Facebook groups and doing everything that a Fit Body Bootcamp did right there in their homes. And because of that, and when I did need some help from friends who were connected to government, I was able to reach out to my friends that I had made goodwill deposits in, and those friends made the right connections for me. In all the different states that we have Fit Body Boot Camp locations in, because states like California, Pennsylvania, Michigan, New York, they were charging, like, finding us, like, $5,000 a day if you're open. Right. And so my franchisees are like, dude, I've got like 4, 15, $20,000 of fines racked up just this week. What do I do? I was like, don't worry. I know a guy who knows the mayor of your city. I'm going to like, that's how you can leverage relationships. And it was such a good thing to be able to do that and help my franchisees, who are, at the end of the day, small business owners. They're not sitting at corporate office like I am. They're small business owners. And so it was really good to be able to help them with the connections that I've developed.

I love it.

Yeah.

So when you started the franchise, I mean, you mentioned you were on the stage, TV show, and people knew you. What was your process before you got to that level? Like, where did you, I guess, make your first million? Or where was that break for you to really start to scale? Because it's so hard in the beginning when you're just getting started to when you have more limited resources and you can't go hire all these C suite executives and people that are way better than you and you're still scrappy. What did that process look like for you? And then what was that big break that you could actually start scaling?

Good point. I think it's a big gift you're giving your audience right now. By asking that questions, because I can imagine your audience is sitting here going, all right, tough guy. Well, you've got all this money, you've got all these connections. You can find leaders and money and start new businesses. And a leader quits, you can replace them with someone else. What do I do? So here's what I did. Way before Fit Body Bootcamp, I had started a gym brand called Premier Results. It was a personal training studio probably three times the size of this room. And for your audience, this room is pretty small. It's just a tiny little studio that reflects filming in. So it was probably like 1200 square feet. My personal training studio called Premier Results. One on one personal training. My personal training client, who I was, I was training him. I was a personal trainer at LA Fitness. His name is Jim Franco. So I was in my early 20s, he's in the 60s at the time. And Jim Franco's like, why don't you have your own personal training studio? I'm like, dude, I don't know anything about opening up a business like that. Like, where do I even begin? Do I. Do I buy the building goes. No, you. You lease it out, you rent it out. I go, do I buy the equipment? No, you lease that out. I don't know the market. I don't know any of that stuff. Right. I just wanted to be a personal trainer and take a lot of steroids and. And train my clients. That was it. And. And at the time, I was powerlifting, so all I really cared about was lifting heavy weights anyway. But Jim inspired me to open up a personal training studio. So I did that. One location became two, two became three, three became four, then five. One advice that Jim Franco gave me was, I don't know how much you or your audience know about personal training, especially back in the day, but personal training was sold by blocks of sessions. So you might buy 5, 10, or 15 sessions. And then once Hannah is done with her 10 sessions with me, then I have to put my sales hat back on. Like, hey, Hannah, this is your ninth session. Tomorrow's your tenth. Do you want to buy another ten? Now we're kind of friends and trainers, so you're like, ah, I could do it on my own, right? I'm like, fuck, now I got to go replace Hannah with someone else. Because I don't, I don't. I don't have that money anymore. And so Jim Franco's like, look, dude, you keep selling me 10, 10 sessions at a time. Why don't you just put me on a extended program? I'M like, do you know how many hundreds of dollars you'd have to pay per month? He goes, I could afford it. And all your personal training clients could afford it because they make a lot of money. So it never dawned on me that my personal training clients make a lot of money and they could afford six to eight hundred dollars a month to work with me. So when I started putting people on monthly recurring revenue revenue, I was able to build up EFT electronic fund transfer. When I was able to build that up, I did the same thing in my five Gyms Premier results because I had clients on reoccurring revenue that was scheduled to come in every month. A very big brand of gyms that we're all familiar with. But because I signed an NDA I can't share came through and bought my five personal training gyms in San Diego, California. They didn't buy it because I had all these personal training clients. They bought it because of the receivables that I had. I had all the clients on a 12 month contract. Average client was paying $630 a month and we had over 400 clients. So they bought the receivables from me, right? And had I only been selling five and 10 sessions at a time. So I share this with you because I just started off with one gym and that one personal training studio and hired a personal trainer. Then I had three or four or five trainers per gym. Before you know what, I sold my five gyms and then I started, started coaching other gym owners, teaching them how to do the same. So the question was, how can someone else start if they don't have the means and the access right now? Be really good at the thing that you're going to do. Be so good that others who do what you do come to you and go, how do you do it? How do you raise capital? How do you, how do you find real estate deals to fund? Because you're going to be so good at it and then you go, let me coach you. And then you could start a coaching business doing that. And through that coaching business business, once I had enough coaching clients, I was like, would any of you want to just start using all my systems and we can call this thing called Fit Body Boot Camp. So I turned my coaching clients that all had different gyms and different brands. My first 45 fit body boot Camp locations were all former coaching clients who just converted their brand to a Fit Body bootcamp and that's how the whole thing took off.

That's so cool. And is that that's similar to Alex Hormozy's process or did he do something similar with the gyms?

Gym launch?

Yeah, gym launch, yeah. Did. Was it also from. Did he do coaching and things like that?

Exactly, yeah. Yeah. His whole thing was, hey, I'm going to coach gyms on how to do this thing. It was all about gym owners. Like many small business owners don't. They think if I, If I'm a great coach or a trainer and I build the gym, people will come and then they're a great coach and a trainer, they have abs. But then they built the gym and no one comes and then they look for marketing, sales and processes and that's where they find someone like back in the day, like me or Alex Hermosi or all these other people who do that kind of stuff. And those people exist in every industry because the lazy who don't want to create the processes will end up giving money to the not lazy who will create the processes and then charge you to deploy them.

Yeah, and that's something that I want to do too, is I want to build a community. And do you know Pace Morby? I don't know if you. Oh, yeah. So I. He was on the show last week and he's just an incredible. Another incredible person I look up to. And he's built something so incred, amazing, you know, serial entrepreneur, 40, I mean, thousands of students in the community, massive companies, super down to earth, great relationships, all that type of stuff. And I want to build a community too. And he actually advised me, like, why? He's like, people are coming in the store, Hannah, and you're not selling anything. Like, I'm not even collecting emails, you know, and he's like, what do you, you know, what do you. What people want to buy but you're not selling? I'm just selling. I'm not through social media, media. I just have my businesses and most of what I've done has been word to mouth and referrals and direct relationship and like, I'm a networker. So I'm just now getting into like the marketing, paid marketing and advertising and collecting emails and all that stuff.

That's how we scale, by the way.

Yeah, yeah, I'm learning that. And so especially being in 100k with, you know, like the really, really big players out there, I'm like, oh my God, they're spending $2 million a month on ads.

Right?

Like, okay, I got to start doing this.

Someone once, someone once asked me, they go, yeah, but I put up content a Lot of it goes viral. I figured out the formula go viral. I'm like, dude, you wait for algorithms to help you go viral. I spend hundreds of thousands of dollars every week across all my companies and I make sure that all my ads convert. I'm fishing with dynamite. You're fishing with the fishing pole. They're like, oh my God, I got it. Like when you throw money at paid ads that convert, it becomes infinitely scalable. Unless you're like in some micro industry, like whatever, some odd industry, but in the industry that you're in, it's literally endless. And if you can figure out the formula, the market, message media, the right ad to the right market of people with the right source of content, like, this thing is going to be over. It's like fishing with dynamite. And if you're able to do that, then you start having first world problems, scale associated problems, which, remember we went, we talked about earlier, people like, oh, I can't wait till I have a billion dollar company. Cool. Billion dollar company comes with billion dollar headaches. But I'd rather have billion dollar headaches than third world problems which are, I can't even keep my lights on.

Right. Well, I'll go back to the community thing and then when I go back to marketing.

Sure.

So another thing I want to do alongside the podcast and the personal brand and the obviously brokerage and the lending and all the things is I want to build a community and I want to help other people do it. Because people reach out to me all the time and that's where I get my joy. That's what fills my cup is helping other people and then learning from other people. But then it's another thing is like, do I build this empire first and like really get the lending company going and scaled and dialed in before I get distracted by this other thing? Or is that also a compliment to go alongside?

It's easy to see a lot of things as compliments and like, oh, that will help that and this will help this and just build this one lending company, I'm telling you, build this one. If you were a coaching client of mine that was paying me a hundred grand for my domination year coaching program, I would tell you to what? Stephen King, who's a great author, wrote one book on how to write books. So the man that's got like more New York Times best selling books than anyone else wrote a book on how to write books. And the big takeaway from that book is be willing to kill your darlings is what he said. And he went on to Say, kill the words, sentences, paragraphs, and pages that don't add value to the reader's life. If you're going to have a 200 page book, it's going to be that much more difficult for them to read. If you have a hundred page book because you killed the darlings, all the fun little side stories that you might want to put your life story in because we're egotistical humans, however, it's not going to add value to the reader's life. They're more likely to read the 100 page book, which means they're more likely to do business with you because they're not going to get through the 200 page book. And so the same thing applies here. Like, be willing to kill your darlings. The reason Fuel Hunt, the apparel company, blew up by like 50x in a year and a half. They had almost 50 different logos. They call them badges, right? So think about a badge that says whatever, you know, kill your distractions, and a badge that says pain is power. And so each one of those small, medium, large, extra large, and then at least two colors, black and white or black and gray. And so the inventory is ridiculous. I'm like, guys, what are the top 10 best sellers? They're like, oh, these ones? I'm like, cool, kill the rest. What? Yeah, yeah, kill the rest. I go, all your top sellers say sold out. There's only like mediums left on the website because all the, you know, larges and extra larges are sold out. And y' all don't have the money, but you have all the stock of all this other. So sell all the rest for dirt cheap and then just make more of the top 10. For a whole six months, all I had them do is just recycle the money and make more of the top 10. And then I was like, now I can create an 11th shirt and a 12th and a 13th. And now we obviously have a big thing, etc, but it was about killing all the darlings to focus on the things that matter. And if you're able to kill the darlings and the distractions and the opportunities, because once in a lifetime opportunities come at least twice a year. And so when people are like, man, you know, there's an opportunity, I got to take it. Because Pace offered this or, you know, Ballantine offered that, more opportunities will come. It's singularity of focus and impulse control are the number one and the number two factors to scale a business faster than ever. The third one being your team members, like, who's in the company with you running it. And so if you could have singularity of focus, then you scale that thing, make freedom money and then you start introducing new businesses, new companies, new leaders, new processes and it just blows up.

Okay, and then back to the marketing. Because the one time four years ago, I hired a marketing agency, signed a 12 month, $100,000 contract and I didn't get one closing. So I was like, fuck marketing.

That's the price we pay. Right? Remember I said how much shit are you willing to eat? That's a beautiful shit sandwich for a whole year.

Yeah, shit sandwich. And, and I don't know, I didn't know marketing. You know, I'd read one or two books, but I'm, you know, busy and crazy. I'm like you, I'm hiring you.

You're an agency. Yeah.

Yep. So now I'm starting marketing, but I'm so afraid of, I've, I've interviewed so many agencies and so many people and like the ones that work for all the big names that I know and then that are crazy amounts of money and then the ones that are, you know, smaller, just trying to get their feet off the ground, that are more dedicated and then I don't know who to pick and then also like do I hire in house and then how do I interview if I do hire in house? So what would you recommend if you're just starting to run ads? And who do you partner with if.

You'Re just starting out? I would probably hire an agency that comes from someone trusted. So you know, like all these people that you've networked with, they've probably referred agencies. What I would say is, let's say one of Ms. Joe Polish. We're just going to use Joe Polish. Hey, Joe Polish referred you and I trust Joe Polish. And so I, I'm sure you guys will do a great job. However, I'm not looking to sign a couple contract beyond 90 days. I'll sign a 90 day contract with nothing beyond that. However, I'm sure you guys will do great. You guys will perform and when you do, I'll sign a six month contract. When that performs and it kicks ass, I'll sign whatever the heck you want me to and I'll talk about you from the treetops. Like I will let everyone know that you guys are the agency to work with and that's what you have to do to hold their feet to the fire. Because they may have worked really well, well for Joe, but that doesn't mean they're going to work well for, for you. Because what I've learned through all the different companies that I own or have equity in, a ad agency that runs ads for supplement company is really bad at running ads for apparel and even worse at running ads for Fit Pro Tracker, our software company. There are dedicated agencies that specialize in different industries and they know the trends, they know the processes, they know the ads, they know what the scroll stoppers are, they know all the things that, that they have what's known as tribal knowledge because they only specialize in software, only apparel. Right. And so when I had Few Will Hunt, Joey and Drew, the founders of Feeble Hunt Apparel, when I had them interview agencies, all of them want a 12 month agreement. And I was like, dude, 90 days. If 90 days. And then, hey, our partner is Bedros Kuhlian and if after 90 days this thing blows up, he will talk about you from the rooftops and you have to hold their feet to the fire and they'll do it it. If they're good at what they do, they'll do it. Of course they want a 12 month agreement with you because it just makes sense. But you don't know if they're going to work for you just because they work for Bob over there. And so you have to be able to tread lightly and have a rip cord that you can exit. You know, 90 days is less painful than 12 months.

Yeah, for sure.

And then ultimately you'd want to bring in house. So as you get bigger, I was.

Just going to ask.

Yeah, you bring people in house. So all my companies now, with the exception of one, are all in house ad buyers.

At what ad spend do you think it makes sense to bring it in house?

If you're starting to spend more than 20 grand a month on the ad.

Spend or the man.

Yeah, on the ad spend, on the actual money that you're running on ads, then just pay someone six to seven grand to come in there and teach them how and do it for you. In fact, I forget the dude's name. He's really good at running YouTube ads. Dean introduced me to him, Dean Graciosi. And he was running many of our YouTube ads for my coaching business. When I was ready to bring someone in house, I'm like, bro, I'm gonna have to part ways with you. However, I want to pay you 10 grand to 15 grand if you will come out to HQ and teach my in house person. He's like. But I'm like, I'm leaving anyway. So one more final ten to fifteen grand plus you'll get referrals from me or peace out. And then I have to go find now someone to train this person that I'm hiring and he was kind enough to come and train. So I. You'll also do that. And that's kind of. You're going to hire an agency and when you find the right agency, you're going to go, hey, down the line I'm probably going to have an in house person and when I do, I'd love to pay you guys to come train that person. You just kind of plant that seed. Because the reality is if you grow big enough, it just makes sense that it's in house because one person dedicated to your brand is going to do a far better job than when they try and scale by hiring people in Poland and Pakistan or whatever because you know, they're based out of wherever Scottsdale, but they're going to hire people offshore because. To run your ads because it's cheaper. Right. And I don't know what the guy in a mud hut sitting in Pakistan is going to do for my ads.

Yeah.

That may not be politically correct, but that's.

I love it. Yeah, no, it's. It just brings back PTSD from all those experiences and trying to hire all the VAs and in the Philippines and the chickens in the background.

Yeah. Which is fine and cool. But yeah, again, if they can't perform like, what am I going to do with this?

Yeah. I love the lending company because I see a larger EBITDA multiple because there's so many avenues of it. And you could be an intermediary, you could be a direct lender. There's very little licensing requirements like there would be in a brokerage. Brokerages are not worth anything on the real estate side. But. And then part of building the personal brand is that's a national reach of people. So I struggle with the concept of just focus local when I'm building a national brand. But also it's a new company. So what is your advice on that? Focus local and turn down all the leads that come in from everywhere else or because I already have the ability to be national because I set it up that way. Do I actually just start to build a national brand?

I started going national. Yeah. With social media. Now it makes sense to go national. If we were having this conversation 10 years ago, I would say start local, but here I would say absolutely go national because you can grow just as fast through social media. And if you need someone local, local somewhere else, it's saying Kentucky. One quick little Google search and you could find the Right. Person anyway, to refer someone and take a commission.

Yeah.

Right. And so you got that there as well.

Okay.

Yeah.

That's what's so nice about not having much like licensing or restrictions is you can do that and.

Right.

And then what about for instance, like load originators and these are generally commission based roles, but it's very hard to find talent for those roles, especially for a startup. And so I guess, I don't know. How do you figure it out? Your comp plans, like, what are the appropriate comp plans for different roles in your company?

Well, I mean, if they have anything to do with sales or marketing, they're going to be incentivized with commission. Right. Because we want them to eat what they kill. If you're a closer or if you're, you know, saying you're a great marketer, then yeah, we'll give you some kind of a base. That base is just enough for you to eat. Like canned tuna fish.

Yeah.

And that's it. The rest of it you have to earn. Right. So the compensation might be anywhere from 10% to 15% commission on the deals if the deal has some kind of recurring attached to it. Like Fit Body Bootcamp has royalties. It's a franchise. That sales rep might get a, you know, whatever, half a percent of royalties coming to them or a quarter percent of royalties. And when their royalties, almost like an insurance broker. Right. When the number gets this big, then your royalties, your percentage of royalties increase. But most everybody else, other than the marketers, closers and then leaders get compensated by commissions and bonuses. Most everybody else support people, accountants, bookkeepers, graphic guys, web guys, things like that. They're going to get paid by a salary and bonuses if they exceeded expectation. People go, well, how do you structure what that bonus is? Like whatever you feel like paying them, like there is no right. It's just whatever you feel like paying them. Like if they killed it when with that website design, like the copywriter did a great job writing copy, but if the design of the site is clunky and the conversions suck, well, you're just getting paid your base. But if you killed it because you research and you're like, what is Russell Brunson's highest performing website? Da da da. And I'm gonna make this look like that in terms of flow and etc. And conversions are crushing it and you got it done a couple weeks early. Here's a bonus for you, my friend. Here's a $2,000 bonus for you on top of that. Because I know also enough know one of the drawbacks of building a brand is your people are always being recruited. My assistant Joan is always being recruited. Bryce Henson is always being recruited. Jeff Rosenquist is always being recruited. Brittany Carter is always being recruited. Like, I could even throw their names out and let these people go and recruit because. Because I pay them so well and I've got them handcuffed to my business because I give them all phantom equity, so there's no way they're leaving. And I treat them well, I treat them like family. But you will have people trying to poach your own people. That's how game is played. So also be willing to deal with that.

So that was going to be my next question about phantom equity or. Or real equity in general. Like, how do you know when to give that up? Because some people, for instance, an integrator, you know, you're second in command. Like, they're going to want something. How do you know who those right roles are to give equity to? And is it phantom? Is it actual? And like, how do you make those decisions? And what roles are they?

Yeah, the only time I would give actual equity is if one, they come in with money. Like they buy equity or if they come in at ground zero, right? So we're just starting out and I'm like, hey, you know, Hannah, I got this great idea in the lending space, and I'm going to front the money to start this thing. And then I can't pay you much. I'm going to give you, like, what's the bare minimum you need to live? Okay, that amount. Great, I'm going to give you that. But I'm also going to give you 10% real equity. Fair enough? Yes. That's the only time with Fit Body Boot Camp, it was making hundreds of millions when Bryce came on board as my second in command. First VP, then CEO. Right? And so I gave him 10% phantom equity. And he's like, he had never heard the term phantom equity, nor had my lawyer, because I made it up. And he was like, what the is phantom equity? I go, well, 100% of fit body Boot Camp belongs to me. We have this side agreement right here that says that you get 10% of the company phantom equity, because it's not real until we take the company to. To a sale. And when we take the company to a sale and you stay with with them for at least two years, if the buyer wants you to stay, that 10% is yours. Now, if you help me take the company to a sale, and they're like, ah, we got our own CEO. We don't need your CEO. Great. You get that 10% upon close of the deal, I go, but if you take a crack habit, a heroin habit, you, whatever, you go off the deep end and I have to fire you, then you're gone. And all you got was your salary and that's it. So salary and Bryce's question, and it was rightfully so. He goes, so what happens if, like, six months before selling the company, you just get rid of me? Well, Bryce, that's why we have this paperwork in place. But more than that, there's a mutual trust, right? And so this kind of goes back to a lesson that I teach often on my show, which is your reputation. And I've got phantom equity with three key principles in my companies, all different companies. Fit Body Boot Camp, my coaching business, and truly supplements. Three key people have phantom equity. It's because of my reputation. They trust me. They've known of me for years before they ever started working for me. They know that when we get to the exit that they will get paid. And all of those businesses I had started years before they came on board, so it wouldn't make sense to give them real equity. So I would always advise you to not give real equity unless they bring some kind of magical benefit to the relationship that you can go get yourself, for example. Because again, I could sound very hypocritical here. I take equity in businesses without ever giving them money. And those businesses are to going, growing and doing well. And I take equity and we grow them bigger. But what do I have? Well, I've got a big following. That following buys what I promote to them. I've got a network of people who will wear the shirt, take the supplements, use the software, and therefore tell their people, right? So I've got a network. I've got an audience of rabid buyers on an email list, on a text list, social media platforms, podcast platforms, and I've got allies who have on audiences who will help me promote my thing as long as that thing is not competitive to their thing, right? And so I do take real equity without giving a dollar, but that's because I bring something magical. So, for example, if there was some business that if Oprah Winfrey talked about, like, it would automatically become a billion dollar business. And I started that business and I'm five years in and it's doing about 50 million a year. And Oprah's like, hey, I'd like 50% equity. Okay, here it is, all yours. Cost you nothing, honey, because you're Oprah Winfrey, you've got the audience. The product is a perfect fit for that audience. When you say, go buy it, it becomes a billion dollar company and then we exit. I do that all day long. But short of a relationship like that, you want to always keep it as a phantom equity, which is why it's important to keep your, your personal brand and reputation untarnished and clean so that no one could ever say shit about you. Because if Bryce was to go and ask 50 people that have worked with me, Beatrice ever screwed you? Has he ever made a promise and then a follow up, if even one of them said yep, he'd be like, bro, I don't want to do phantom equity, so I'm not going to be your CEO and that'd be the end of that.

Yeah. And you give Advantum equity to your cfo and who's your third? You said three key principles.

Yeah, three individuals, so.

Oh, okay.

Yeah. Joan, my assistant, who has been with me for 10 years, has a small piece of equity in the coaching business. Jeff Rosenquist has phantom equity and truly supplement. He's the vp and then Bryce. So all my leaders have equity in the businesses that they run, and I think that's a fair way to do it. But it's phantom equity. Now, could that convert into real equity? Sure. It felt like, man, I want to buy more equity. And now I've got the money and I want to buy more equity. And I felt like selling it and taking some money off the table. Sure. I'd be more than willing to do that. If Bryce says, hey, I want, you know, 30% equity, and this time I'm willing to buy it for whatever the company's valued at before we go and sell it, right? Sure, man. Here's what it's valued. So go ahead and pay me X and you can get 20% more and off we go. But Fantom is always the best way that I found because they didn't put skin in the game. You've already been around long enough and making money. So all the hardest parts are done of the business. They just need to run the people and the processes, and therefore phantom equity is plenty for them.

Okay, and then when you're growing all these things, your personal brand, your relationship, your friends and family, your mental health, your physical health, your, your fitness, and then continue to build an empire, how do you time manage everything? Like, what are your non negotiables in your day and how do you time block to make sure that you are elevating all of those things and not going too heavy on one or the other. And what does that look like?

Yeah. Yeah. So delegate, motivate, sell dms. Fifteen years now I've been doing dms and I learned that got to give credit where credit is due. From Jim Franco, that personal training client that I had who encouraged me to start with my personal training gyms, he says, look, anything else you do other than delegate, motivate and sell is wasted time, wasted effort, wasted money. And he's absolutely right. And so on my Google calendar, Joan, who I believe you spoke with to set this whole thing up, Like, I didn't set it up because if I did, I'd never make it out here. I'd be in the wrong city, on the wrong plane, doing the wrong thing. Like, I'm horrible at that. So I don't non negotiables. I don't buy plane tickets, hotel, I don't book hotels, I don't reserve cars or car services or any of that stuff. If it's on my calendar, it's put there by Joan and I execute on it. And then on my calendar, all the things on it are things that are delegate, motivate, sell. What category would this fall into? Selling. What am I doing? I'm selling myself to your audience. I'm selling the concepts that I believe in that if they take action on, will make them more money. Right? Just because I say go do eos and retraction doesn't mean they will. But if I'm like, here's how it changed my life, I'm selling your audience, right? So everything I do is I'm either delegating, taking it off my plate, and giving to someone else who's more capable to do it, motivating my team members to do it, and then keep doing it and stay on board and don't quit because I love you and I don't want to lose you. And for all those things, right, because they're being poached. And I do run all my people in the red. And so I teach them to be very resilient. So delegate, motivate, and sell. And then the things that are on my calendar have to do with delegate, motivate and sell, and everything is time blocked. So the first, first four hours of the morning is mine. And then if I have coaching calls that I'm going to do, all my coaching calls are back to back. They're 30 minute coaching calls with like 15 minute breaks in between. That way, if I have to go over or if I have to take a bathroom break in between or eat something. I have that opportunity to do like four coaching calls, six coaching calls, all back to back. And then all my meetings at the end of the day are all stacked back to back. And by having everything time blocked that way, I'm not going from a meeting to a zoom to a meeting, coaching call, to a whatever to a podcast and then back to a coaching call. Because in the process of shifting gears, you lose a lot of momentum. And I don't want to lose momentum. I don't want decision fatigue. For the first time in a long time, I bought a brand new pair of jeans, Mavi brand jeans. I have nine pairs of barbell brand jeans. There's some variation of gray, dark gray or black, right? And that's because I don't want decision fatigue. All my shirts are Fuel Hunt shirts and that's one, because I co own the company and two, I don't want decision and they're all dark colors because then it'll match with the dark colored jeans and that's that. I don't want decision fatigue. I don't want to have to shift gears and lose momentum because we all have the same amount of time. And then I'll ruthlessly say no to everything. There's a broken light bulb in the in my office at hq. I just have to text Joan or whoever, the maintenance guy of the building to come and change it. Do I have the capacity to change light bulb? Absolutely. Is it worth my time? Probably not. Do I know how these microphones work? Nope. I just walk into studio and start filming. Right? I got my content, but I don't edit it, I don't film it, I don't go to the grocery store, I don't, I don't wash my cars, I don't book my hotels, I don't book the flights. I say no to a lot of things so that I could say yes to the three things that matter. Delegate, motivate and sell. Because Joan could find the restaurant that I need to eat at tonight or tomorrow or wherever I go next. She can me wasting time to find the restaurant and then in instead not showing up prepared to this could screw the whole thing up, right? Like, I can't have Joan come and do this podcast while I'm looking to see where I'm going to eat. But I can have Joan figure out where I'm going to eat while I prepare for this and come and crush it for you. And so if people are ruthless about their time and they realize that everyone wants to take your time, just five minute phone call real quick. Can we do a FaceTime? No. Fuck off. Off and off. That's how ruthless you have to be to get to that level. There is another side of me that I just want to be barefoot and go hug trees as well. And there's a duality in me that my kids will see and people closest to me will see. But for the most part, if you're on the battlefield of business and you're looking to make hundreds of millions or get to billions and beyond, it is a pretty ruthless way that you have to manage your time. Because as you grow your brand, people like, I bet Hannah has something that I could use. Could I just take you out to lunch? Cut it. To pick your brain. You know how many people want to pick my brain apart? No, you can't take me out to lunch. I don't want to go work out with you. We can't have coffee, none of that stuff. Not you personally, but I'm just saying, like when people like Will DM and Message and whatever. And so you have to ruthlessly protect your time. You have to structure everything. You have to time block everything. I sleep and wake up at the same time seven days a week because I don't want my circadian rhythm all up. One of my coaching clients, Dr. Amy Shaw, who's a gangster, she lives right here out here in Scottsdale, has a massive following. She's about. Her second book's gonna be a New York Times bestseller as well. I structured her hers and Gabrielle Lyons book launch and they both became New York Times bestsellers. But she's all about circadian rhythm and she makes a lot of sense. Why on a Friday night or a Saturday am I gonna stay up late, get drunk and then do the same thing Sunday? And then come Monday, my busiest day, now my sleep pattern's all fucked up. I'm not thinking right. I'm a little foggy headed during my busiest day. Like, I don't want to go into battle like that. So to me, I have a pretty boring life. But I like the boring life that I have because it gives me access to who and what I need and the freedom to do what I want with who I want for as long as I want. And I realize I only have a finite amount of time on this planet and access and freedom is my highest currency.

Yeah, one of my mentors that I mentioned earlier, he says that on the, on the arrow, what kills the animal and it's the very tip of the spear and all your activities, you want to be Moving closer and closer to the very tip of the spear.

Yeah, yeah, that's a really good way to say it. It's a beautiful metaphor.

So, last question. I want to talk about your book real quick. So your book is Man Up. And it's all about taking ownership and cutting out excuses and just to level up in business and life and dominate, build an empire and all those things. So what was like the most best example in your life where you had to man up and you had to cut out excuses and really, like, get your shit together to transform?

Yeah, good example. So I've always had this gift of connection, and I got that from my dad. My dad knows how to connect with anyone. He talked the kgb, which is the equivalent of the FBI in the Soviet Union. He talked to KGB out of arresting him that heard that we were going to escape the Soviet Union. They had heard. They even had some evidence. And he sat them down at the kitchen table, got drunk with them, talked them out of arresting us, and then in two weeks later, we're off to Italy. From Italy to the United States. So my dad has the gift of gab that is factory installed in me. Like, I know how to connect and influence people. That also made me a great marketer because I was a great marketer and I am a great marketer. I could write, copy, and make offers really easily. So I always counted on that. When I started my coaching business back in the day, which then later became that I started Fit Body Bootcamp. Like, I was really good at marketing, but as a company grew and I had more people working for me, I wasn't as disciplined. And so the breaking point for me was my lack of discipline. I could stay awake till 2 in the morning, watch TV, goofy off, eat bagels, do whatever I want because I was stress. Eat. I'm an emotional and stress. I was an emotional and stress eater. Now I'm not. Now I'm a badass. But I would do all that till 2 in the morning. Then I'd wake up at like 5 or 6 in the morning. I just crush whatever marketing campaigns I need to do and just flood new customers in. However, I wasn't a good leader. I wouldn't show up to meetings on time. And when I would show up, I was unprepared. And because of that, I would start feeling anxiety. And all that led to a massive panic attack. Attack in 2013. Remember I said pre2013. Post 2013, I had a panic attack so bad I thought I was having a heart attack. And I talk about that in my book, man up, the title of that chapter is called the Morning of My Heart Attack. Because I thought I was having a heart attack. I was 38 years old. I'm in my guest house and I'm like, holy. I'm up here in my guest house and I left my shoes up there the night before. I play the drums. I've got a drum set in the guest house and I left my shoes up there. Went back to the house, barefoot across the pool deck. And so in the morning I'm like, where are my tennis shoes? They're upstairs in the guest house. Ran across the pool deck to get my shoes, Bend down to pick up my shoes, and all of a sudden my chest gets tight. Tunnel vision, Hearts racing, sweaty palms. Both arms are like tingling. And I remember reading somewhere, like in some high school, like health class that, like, if an arm tingles, you're having a heart attack. So I'm like, both arms are tingling. This is the big one. This is how I go. And I remember thinking in that moment, like, this sucks. I'm 38 years old. I'm building this, this what's going to be an empire. I accepted death very quickly. And I was like, I felt very sad for Chloe at the time. She was like 6 or 7 years old. I was like, who's going to walk Chloe down the aisle? And I felt really bad for Andrew. He was nine years old. Who's going to teach him to be a modern day knight? Like, those are my. Were the two big things that I wanted to do for my babies. Anyway, long story short, it's so weird. You, you accept death and you stumble down the staircase. Because my theory was that if I stumbled down the staircase, someone, the lawn guy, the pool guy, guys, someone's going to find me. And they're not, they're going to find me early. And it won't be at the end of the day in the guest house will I be bloated and ugly and my family will be like, oh my God, dad looks horrible, right? And that, that'll be traumatic for them like that. And while I thought I was having a heart attack, those were the thoughts going through my mind. So as I stumbled down the staircase, I don't know if it's a fresh air, I don't know if it was the movement. All of a sudden, this, all these feelings went away and I'm left in a sweaty puddle. I was like, holy, I think I just dodged a heart attack. Went to the doctor the next day, checked my heart. Your heart's good. Think you had a panic attack. Attack. So that was the beginning of me becoming more disciplined. I would emotionally eat back then also to fall asleep at 2 o' clock in the morning because I would take a lot of drink, a lot of coffee and energy drinks throughout the day. I had a bicep reconstruction. I tore my bicep from powerlifting and had a big bottle of Vicodin left. I have a high pain tolerance, so I didn't use the Vicodin for its intended purpose. I ended up using it to fall asleep at night. And when one Vicodin wasn't enough, I would take two or three. When or three weren't enough, it was like three, four, five Vicodins plus some nyquil on top of that to fall asleep. And so imagine now being poorly disciplined, a bad leader on top of that, and then having food addiction, using food as your emotional crutch because your company's growing, because you're a genius at writing ad copy and creative and things like that. But you can't lead, manage and create systems LMS if your life depends on it. And so that's when I had to turn pro. It was after that big panic attack. And that's. So the book is the man up is the brutal, honest truth about what it takes to succeed in life as a high performer. I don't care if you want to be the best husband, if you want to be the best wife, if you want to be the best next Mother Teresa, if you want to save the planet, or if you want to build a company that's going to do a billion dollars. Like there's six pillars of entrepreneurial and personal leadership that starts with you as the leader and ends with a team of high performers. Not employees, employees. Employees will clock out early, clock in late, and do the bare minimum. A team is ferociously focused on winning because they know what winning looks like. They've been told the vision by the leader. And so the six pillars of entrepreneurial and personal leadership I've outlined in that book, it's exactly what I used to change my life from 2013 to. In two years, 2013 to 2015, my company Hockey sticked. I stopped doing the Vicodin, stopped in iQL, stopped the emotional eating, started going to sleep on time and did everything that I was. I became congruent with the man that I wanted to be. And wouldn't you know it, my whole life, hockey sticked. And so that's what man up is all about. But it's the brutal, honest truth I'VE had many people read the book and say, I don't want to be an entrepreneur. And I'm like, that's awesome. There's nothing wrong with being an intrapreneur. Go work for someone who's driven, who's crazy, who's willing to take the risks and help them achieve their dreams. And somewhere within their dreams, as Ed Milette says, there's a piece of your dream in there, right? But you don't have to take those risks. You. You don't have to be up till two in the morning because there will be nights. During the pandemic of 2020, we were having two L10 meetings a day. We went from one a week to two level 10 meetings a day. Because how do you tell hundreds of franchisees around the world how to run their gyms? Places like Texas and Florida were like, work out. Do whatever you want. Go lick doorknobs, right? And then California, Michigan, Pennsylvania, we're getting fined left and right. So make no mistake about it, like, there was plenty of days that I didn't sleep, like, in 2020, because we're like, at the. In the war room, planning, strategizing, trying to figure out what our next move is. And if you're not dialed in mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally, you're going to get up when the next pandemic comes. And there's always, as Tony Robbins says, winter is just around the corner. It's always coming. You just don't know when winter is coming. Yep.

Well, thank you so much, and I'm excited. I'm going to be at your event. So it's May 31st.

May 31st, BK Live at the Grove Theater in Anaheim. It's going to be all about money, meaning, and self mastery. If anyone wants to level up in those three areas, that's where they want to go to Perfect.

And we'll put your link in the bio so people can.

I appreciate that.

Sign up. Awesome. Thank you so much, Pedro.

Thank you.