Part 3 - The $50,000 Referral: Never Take People For Granted

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Welcome to this edition of the million dollar Mastermind podcast. This is where we pick the brains of high achievers from all walks of life and get their hard earned real world insights on winning. I'm your host Larry Wydell.

Let's just talk about that. Looking back, what is know bad things happen, but also good things happen. What was the almost scary good thing? Can you remember something that was almost scary good where somebody came in and they wanted this, this, this, this, this and it's like I can't believe this is happening to me.

So I'll tell you a one not make no money, that turns to something else which is a good story. And anybody who's kind of in a Ruth I tell this story because it's 100% the truth. I used to buy Life Fitness recumbent bikes. Just the old, everybody knows what these are. I bought them Larry, for $250. They used to be between 2 and 3,000 brand new. I would buy them not beat up but older for 250. I would clean them up, sometimes have to put a battery in them that costed $20 and I would sell them for 299. And people, you may ask, well Stephen, how was you making any money? If you factor in rent or this or that. So it was kind of a loss leader Larry, to bring people in the door. Well what ended up happening, I'll never forget this many years ago guy comes in an old Bronco and I had no clue he was and he says to me hey, I'm here to get that recumbent bike. And Larry, it wouldn't fit in the Bronco. And I'm like oh God. And Larry, it's like 8:00pm at night. Adam, no, you know how this is. I'm starving Larry, I'm just ready to go home. I'm making no money on the recumbent bike. I'm like hey bud, it won't fit type deal. And he says oh no, we'll take it apart. And I'm like oh God. I'm like I don't want to take it apart. But I kept my game face on because I used to think about it when I used to go to Olympia and Arnold and I would wait in line to meet an Adam, for instance or people. I would never want somebody to think I'm a bad person. So we got this thing to go in the Bronco. He came to my office to pay me and we're just sitting here chit chatting and he says to me, he says Stephen, you have Been so great. I cannot thank you enough for helping me today. I'm going to tell my buddy about you. And I didn't really think much about it, Larry, to be honest with you. And you're going to tell my buddy. And a lot of people at the time was referring me, right? So this was a $300 deal. I kid you not. This is months, maybe even upwards of a year goes by many years ago, 40, $50,000 deal to me, Larry, was a lot of money at the time to do that. I had never done these big deals. Like now. I do big deals all the time. But back then, it's different. Larry, this man had an appointment, set an appointment with me, told me he was referred to me. I have no iq. He referred, comes in, we're doing a big deal. And I want to say it was around 50, 45, $50,000. And Larry, we're sitting at my desk, he's writing me a check. He's blown away by the business. I'm kind of sitting there in shock that I'm doing a $50,000 deal, to be honest with you. And Larry, he says, man, my buddy told me y' all couldn't fit that bike in the Bronco. Larry, look, if you can see me, I got cold chills talking about. I look at him and I had this aha moment. Like, oh, my goodness. You never know who the other person knows. And I kid you not, I was always trying to be a good person. But at that point forward, I. From the guy who wanted a pair of dumbbells to the kettlebell, to one treadmill. I treat everybody the same. If somebody comes to that warehouse, they look around, they don't buy anything. I treat them the same because they may come back. So that was like a. I want to tell you this, too. I got so many stories. I go under contract for my new building, which was very expensive, 20, 19. And I had to do a $100,000 hard deposit, Larry, on this and rent back for. Don't quote me on this, 12 or $15,000 a month rent back from you. Because they had to get everything out. That was the only way to do the deal, that they would do it.

Yeah.

So I can't put nothing into place, but I can start renovations. But out of my own money. And I've got a couple lines of credit at the time. I've got a little bit of money. I'm selling my old warehouse, and it's under contract. So I'm going to take the money, the equity that I had at the old warehouse. I'm going to apply to my down payment for the new warehouse. I'm thinking in my mind, larry, I'm going to be good. I kid you not. And I can't make this up. Covid hits and I think I'm going to lose everything. Like, gives me cold chills again, talking about it. And I'm like, oh, my. They shut my gym down. I don't know what to do. And the deal falls through, Larry, on my old warehouse, that I'm using the money to apply for the new warehouse. And the bank calls me, Larry, and says that we're not going to be able to do financing for the new warehouse at the time. You talk about a scary moment. So, Larry, at this point, just so.

You know, this is 2020.

I'm a big deal in the gym equipment world.

And now things are crashing on me again.

I'm like, what am I going to do? And I kid you not. And Adam, you asked me about this on the, on the, on our phone call, Larry, I'm coming to my warehouse, my old warehouse one day, and I'm driving down the road and I'm not in a great mood. I don't know why.

And, well, because you thought you're gonna lose everything, probably.

Adam.

Yeah, literally, you know what I mean? Everything's shut down.

Exactly. I don't know what I'm gonna do. And I kid you guys not that they're in the middle of the country. And Adam, you've been to the old warehouse. You know where it was at? Yeah. There's a traffic jam, Larry. Like. Like, I'm like, what in the world is going. So I just keep creeping up the hill. Keep creeping up the hill. And I look and, Larry, there's a line to get in my building to buy gym equipment. People were driving from other states to come to get gym equipment from me. And I'm like, what is going on? And so I kid you guys not, I buckled down. We were working 100 hours a week. I had two children at the time, under three years old. And we would take them to that warehouse every day. My wife would be running credit cards, and we and a few other guys would work all day long. Sometimes the lines wouldn't stop till 10, 11pm in, like, it was the most craziest thing. But I always tell people, for every bad thing, hardship, sometimes there's a biggest blessing that happens. And during that time, I was blessed tenfold. And I knew I was going to make it. And so my wife got. My wife got that Building back under contract, my bank. I had so much. I was doing so much business at the time that my bank went ahead and went through with the deal. So a year later, everything worked out. But you talk about scary times, and honestly, Larry, I'm sure in your life, maybe. I know yours, Adam, too. Just like your arm situation today, I'm sure there's going to be something else that happens along the way. I'm going to get hit with the hardship, but I'm just a firm believer. You just. You just take care of the problem, you take care of the issue. You buckle down, you just keep going. Sometimes somebody's so close to winning, but they stop right there before the finish line. They're right there. And that's the test to get to the next level. And I'm going to be honest with you guys. I don't know what my next level is. I've been praying about it and all kinds of things, but at the end of the day, I'm at the point now I want to be a good father, good husband, and I just want to help other people. The money just seems to come with. The more that. The more information that I seem to put out and give the world, the more people seem to want to do business with me. And so that's what I preach to a lot of people, is, you know, make sure you're just doing heartfelt things. It's.

It's so.

Life's so simple in the sense that it cost us nothing to be kind. And I think a lot of people miss the boat on that. I mean, Adam, you've called me before. I remember years ago, maybe. What? Adam? Seven years ago, I knew Adam was in Greensboro, and I knew where some gym equipment was that was a nightmare to get at. You remember Adam? And I said, adam, I don't know if you need this, but I know where some free treadmills and ellipticals and bikes are. You're welcome to do it. I didn't have to call Adam.

He was just my buddy.

I knew he was in Greensboro, that.

He'S in the gyms. Go get it. That's just a nice gesture.

And Adam is.

Sent me business through the years and done business with me. It's just what you're doing.

I want to jump in. Hey, let me. I want to jump. I want to jump in real quick and just reiterate so it didn't get lost. Covid hit, which can't. Which was basically canceled the deal on his warehouse and canceled the loan from the bank. But it's because Covid hit, and he had all that gym equipment in place. All the gyms in the country were closed down. But he had such a big following and reputation out there. That's why those hundreds of people from all these other states were driving to Burlington to buy gym equipment, because all the gym equipment, all the gym places were closed. So his reputation was already out there, so big that as soon as they shut down all the gyms across the country, people were driving from all over the country to his warehouse to supply their home gyms and whatever they were going to use. So the fact that he already had that reputation out there is why so many. Basically, the lord sent, you know, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people into you because you were able to. They were bailing you out, but you were bailing them out of a bad situation.

I'll tell you another funny story that ties in with that. At the time, Larry, nobody could find olympic plate and dumbbells anywhere. And you couldn't buy it online. You couldn't. Nobody had it. Well, my wife used to get mad at me. I was the hoarder of olympic plate. I was the guy that, Larry, if you had £1,000 in your basement, I would buy it from you. Even If I had £100,000 at the warehouse, I'd still buy your plate, Larry. And so I was known, people would just stop by the warehouse, and I would keep cash on hand. I would buy plate literally weekly at times, and all this stuff. And I kid you not, I would be made fun of because a lot of the plate was old rusty york plate. And, you know, people didn't understand, But I would have for years tractor farmers come to weight down their tractors, and they would want 500 pounds of Olympic plate. I didn't just sell olympic plate to bodybuilders or gym people, Even though every gym I opened, they might need 5,000, 10,000, £15,000 of plate. So that's why I always had a lot of plate on hand. Well, Larry, when that. When Covid happened, I had £330,000 on hand of used olympic plate, plus an arsenal of new bumper plates and new Olympic plate, brand new. And I went through all of it. Literally all of it.

Wow.

I was probably the only person in the country with that amount of stock on hand.

100%.

It was just sheer. I don't. I don't know if it was luck or just I'm that crazy to stock that much plate, but it ended up being a huge blessing. But I didn't have a clue. And Y' all want me hear the funniest thing about it? I was selling it dirt cheap in fear because I didn't know what was going to happen in the world. And so about three months go by and all the plate that I had sold starts skyrocketing in price. People was coming to me. They would buy my plate, Larry. And then I would see the same plate photos of my warehouse back online for double or triple what they bought it from me for. So all these people start reselling my product. And I didn't knock anybody's hustle. I just couldn't believe it. I'm like, I guess it was supply and demand.

Yeah. Unbelievable. Well, Steve, you know, this has been phenomenal. And appreciate Adam being on. We always let the guest have the final word. If there's any last thing that you want to pass on to people out there looking to make their mark, you know, they're. They're wanting to move up. They might already have a business, but, you know, might be on the verge of getting one. But any one last thing you want to pass on, we. This has just been incredible.

Sure. First of all, I want to thank you guys for even asking me or thinking to ask me to. Come on. I had a great time. It's been an honor. I would love to do it again sometime and tell more stories or just have dinner with you guys, but let's go. I tell anybody, Larry, always go for your hopes and dreams, but be the always tell. I tell this. If you're sweeping the floors, be the best floor sweeper. If you're the janitor, be the best janitor you can be because somebody's going to look at you and hopefully move you up or give you a raise or move you to the next position. A lot of people lose insight. I was told, Stephen, you're going to be the dishwasher in the restaurant. You're going to learn that first be the best dishwasher you can be. So I advise anybody out there listening at your job, you're an employee, whatever. You don't have to be a business owner. Always think positive first and then keep, keep moving. Just become better by the day. It goes such a long way. But as far as myself goes, you can find me at Super Fitness gym equipment.com is my website for my gym equipment business. Super Fitness NC is my gym. And there's a lot of videos on the YouTube, which is the same thing. Super Fitness gym equipment. About my story, and I'm starting to do. I'm going to start doing a lot More personal stuff of me and my wife and just about marriage, life in general, business. I just think we have a lot of people, a lot of things to say to people and we want to give that free content out not just for motivation, but just for positive day to day vibes for everybody.

Absolutely. Steve, real quick, give your wife, give her a quick plug too in the real estate. Anybody in I guess in North Carolina. She's one of the number one real estate agents in the state is my understanding. So give her a. Where they get her information too, if anybody's interested in buying or selling in the area.

Absolutely, yes. So my wife is Amber Harvey. She is the 18 and she is one of the top agents, I kid you not. Amber is one of the hardest workers I know and that's why I think we go good together, even though we butt heads, because I push her and she pushes me. But we also don't do it for the money. We don't just need more money. So we just love to grind. And she loves business, loves gym equipment, loves real estate. She's passionate about real estate. So anybody just look up Amber Harvey or the A team, she should pop up on social media. She's doing YouTube and all that. And Adam or Larry, I do think Amber gets asked to be keynote speakers at a lot of exp events. She's been keynote speakers at Keller Williams events. I think she would be great for y' all to have on the podcast.

Okay, well, thank you very much. We will. We'll keep that in mind.

Absolutely.

Look forward to that. So thanks so much. It's been great.

Thank you, Larry. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Yes, sir. Thanks, Steve. Have a good night.

Thank you for listening to the final part of this episode of the Million Dollar Mastermind podcast. Great ideas.

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