#27 Mike Radoor - How To Get Ahead of 99% of People (Be Above Average!)

We always want more of something and less of something. And it could be everything from, I would like to have more time for journaling. Could be that. And then you have some people, I would like to have a Ferrari. Well, you just need to get on to that path. And then the next exercise I give them, tell me what's draining you in your life and tell me what gives you energy in your life. You have 3 brains. You have a conscious brain, you have a subconscious brain, and you have your ego brain. So I always teach people to set A goals, B goals, and C goals. A goals is like, tomorrow I'm gonna buy some toilet paper. And B goals is that, okay, 1 year from now I'm gonna do this, and that's something I can do. Seagull is the one to the fucking moon.

Guys, welcome back to the podcast. You may notice a big improvement in the audio and the video, and that is because I'm in a new podcast studio in Marbella called You Seek Studio. This place is just phenomenal if you're doing a podcast or even just recording any type of content. Go hit them up, tell them I sent you, and now let's get into the episode. It's a big one today.

Awesome.

All right, guys, welcome back to The Game Plan. In Marbella, you're never short of an interesting person to get on the show. There's a lot of entrepreneurial people here. There's a big entrepreneurial community. So today we have Mike Radour. I had my— that is my Danish.

That was great.

That was great.

That was great.

Some people say Radour.

When people— the Americans always say Lipsett.

Lipsett.

Yeah, yeah, and it's Lipsett, you know, it's a little bit more subtle. But Mike, we got a lot to talk about, a lot to unpack here. I've been doing my research. You're an absolutely killer entrepreneur, but tell me about your humble beginnings in Denmark. What was the first entrepreneurial thing you ever did? What was the first product you ever sold?

Wow. And thank you for having me. It's an honor. Well, what was the first? I think in Denmark, we had, when I was a kid, we had these newspapers where you could put up an ad and you could sell a product and you could buy phone, you know, do some buy and sell. So what I did, I always wanted at that time, I wanted the PlayStation, you know, I just wanted the PlayStation, but I didn't have enough money to get it. So I started buying for the money I had a very old laptop like this fat with a printer inside.

No way, that would be like a box.

Yeah, it was huge.

And I bought it cheap and then I created an ad and I sold it more expensive. And then I bought another computer, sold it more expensive. And that was probably my first entrepreneurial journey, you know, I had to set that up myself.

Yeah, very nice. I remember my first one, right? It actually has something to do with Spain and Marbella. So we went on a family holiday. I was maybe 10 years old or 11, 12, around that. And so remember there used to be like loads of street markets and they would sell pellet guns, like BB guns, you know, the little like air pistols. So I bought a load of them and then I brought them back to Ireland, smuggled them back.

I sold them to all the kids in the neighborhood. And so everyone started shooting each other.

And like, then all the parents went crazy at my parents because they're like, your son sold my son a Pelican, a BB gun. What's going on?

And they're like, shoot him in the eye and everything. I'm like, it's looking troublesome here.

But that was the first entrepreneurial thing I ever did.

So you got the idea.

Yeah, I know.

And you saw this can sell.

Yeah.

And that's a natural.

You couldn't get them in Ireland. You couldn't get the Pelicans. They were only legal in Spain. But still in that age, that's an idea.

Entrepreneurial spirit.

Yeah. And so do you think that you can be taught to be an entrepreneur, or do you think it is something that you naturally have in you?

No, I know, I definitely believe everyone is, is born like a clean sheet of paper. Okay. And, and the way you create your belief systems and everything happens in your early ages. So if your parents has something in them as a goal getter, or if you are especially born and raised in scarcity.

Yeah.

And you meet people who is not in scarcity, I think you get this, your drive of wanting more. Or if you are raised in a very harsh environment where you maybe get bullied and you have something to prove.

Yes. Why do you not watch the chip on your shoulder?

Right.

Yeah.

I believe that, that, that can grow into an entrepreneur. You can either go both ways. Either you can get broken by it or you can get wildly driven by it.

Yeah.

I believe in that.

And were your parents entrepreneurs or what did they do?

No, they weren't. Actually, my, my, my dad is mentally ill. Um, but he's fine. He's great. He's mentally ill. But he's, uh, yeah, he caught a mental disease when he was younger.

Sorry to hear that.

Ah, this is— it's okay. He's the one who taught me most about life and love. Man, that's beautiful. Yeah, but my mom was, you know, we were in a tough situation, the classic story.

Yes.

Where we didn't have much money and we know—

oh no, yeah, bring, bring the coffees.

Okay.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, we're only getting going. Cheers.

Nice, that's perfect.

All right, let's grab these. Oh yeah, just put it down there. She has—

perfect.

They're, they're super hot.

Chocolate is not for— is not for Rob. Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, he's on a diet.

I'm He's on the diet.

Come on, guys, it's summer. It's peak Marbella summer. Yes.

Cheers, bro. Yeah, cheers. Cheers.

Harry, I like having a little— like, I'm a little coffee during the podcast. Makes things more relaxed.

Absolutely.

Okay, so tell me, your mother.

Yeah, so when I was around 10 or 11, they split up and we were living in a big house and my mom couldn't afford it. And that's where we got split up in the family. And, you know, I moved to my grandmother, my sister moved to some friends. And my mom moved into with her new boyfriend, and that created a separation, and that made me get this drive. Yeah, you know, I want— this is not good for me. And when I was in school, I changed the school, I got bullied, and then my response was beating them up.

Yeah, I was like, how the fuck can you bully you?

No, I wasn't born like this.

He came out the womb just absolutely jacked, 6'3", 200 pounds.

No, I was— I was a spaghetti. I was super— I was super super slim.

No.

And yeah, so that was— and my mom was always, you know, really tough. And like, there was no crying, there was no nothing. If I got hurt, she said, stand up again. And if I got beaten, she said, that's your own fault.

And so do you think you were closer to your mom or your dad?

So yeah, I, I was raised with my mom, and— but my mom had a little hard time of showing love and giving love. She was more a rough person.

Yeah.

And my dad, he was— that time he was not mentally there.

Yes.

But later on, it's my dad I connect more with. Okay. He's the guy I call.

Okay.

Like, after this podcast, I'm gonna call him. Daddy, it went great.

Or, you know, Dad, it went terrible. Yeah, you fucking toast again.

But you know what, that's very interesting. I didn't want to interrupt there, but so the story you said about you had like the nice house and everything, and then your family, the business went under— this is my exact story.

Oh wow.

Like, I mean, the exact same. Like, so when people, they ask me about, you know, kind of my upbringing and when I was getting started in life, it's just the exact same as that. We had a beautiful house in Dublin, you know, really nice. I went to a great school and everything, you know, no sob story here. But then my family separated, just like yourself, and it really has taught me how important family is. It kind of just sets your whole life really and teaches you everything. So my family, we— they separated. My three older sisters, they all went off and did their own thing into different countries. And yet then we had to rent the house out to different people. So it's like I'm I can't believe it's like the exact same story. And so people always say like, because they say like, oh, I got a posh accent or something. They're like, oh, Rob's had it easy. And I'm like, I definitely didn't have it hard. You know, there's a lot of people that have struggled, they're born in poverty, but I still started with, I remember I've worked in retail and I had €300 in my bank account. And I spent it on a camera. Yeah, then I got on YouTube. And that is my story. Like that is my start. So people always say to me like, oh, daddy's money or, you know, mommy's money, whatever. And I'm like, No, no. I'm like, at one stage it would have been, but then, you know, everything went to shit around 18.

But that's probably also why you can keep that momentum.

100%.

Because you know what you work for.

Yes.

It's so precious.

Yeah. And if like my parents just, or one of my friends just gave me a job, well, I wouldn't be sitting here today.

I don't know.

I just might be doing nothing.

You've been fighting for it, right? Exactly. I heard one guy said once, he said, the people who really makes it large in life, whatever their goals are. Yeah. They spend 75% of their life creating themselves and 25% finding themselves.

Nice.

And I believe in creating myself, you know, because finding myself— well, who should I find? Yeah, well, the future version of me.

Okay, so wait, on that, right, how does someone find their passion or their path in life? Wow, so it's a big question, and I've actually asked this to a few people this week, and everyone's got quite quite different answers, and some actually like got the opposite answers.

So that's a good question.

There's no right answer, but I want to hear what you got to say.

Well, I think it's like finding your passion, you know, if people start by finding their passion, I think they can go very wrong. I think you should probably find something out there you want to have, acquire, or be, and then you'll try hundreds of ways. Yeah, hundreds of ways. and suddenly you will catch something that feels natural in you. You feel, okay, this, this, I'm in the flow. Okay, I'm not good at it, but I like becoming better at it.

Yes.

Yeah, right. So it's the same thing when you are— to do a parallel, when I was a kid and I first got a Lego, uh, you know, castle or whatever it was, and I spent weeks on that shit. And, you know, I collected it wrong and I did this and I did that.

Yeah.

And suddenly I figured out my passion wasn't Lego. My passion was building.

Nice.

You understand? Creating.

Yes, exactly.

But you don't know that as a kid.

No.

So I think finding your passion is more like trying to strive for improve in everything you do. At some point you will catch a passion.

Yeah. And usually it's something that like you're good at. And because we all like what we're good at and then we'll end up pushing it more. But the problem with that is that if you suck at it at first, some people, they just give it up straight away.

Yes.

And they don't kind of push themselves and they could be missing out on their true calling. In life.

Yes.

You know, it's like if I went to the gym and I didn't see results in the first 4 weeks, which I didn't, you know, and then I just gave up, I would never be, you know, working in the fitness industry and where I am now. So, you know, try a lot of different things, but don't like jump around too much to each single one, or else you might be missing out on the thing that you're really good at.

I think, I think, you know, no matter, no matter what you do, if, if you If you just try to improve, try to improve, try to improve, try to improve, then there you find the passion.

Yeah, exactly.

There you find the passion for improvement. So you— the fitness industry, what I love about the fitness industry, it's a constant improvement. Yeah, yeah, it's a never-ending story.

I think it's like the pretty much the beginning of self-improvement. So you know when you're— what you— when you want to level up as a man, okay, right, we think money, relationships, The foundation for everything is fitness.

Yeah.

And health. If you're not in good shape and healthy, everything else is actual bullshit.

Yeah.

So that's why I think the fitness industry, that's why I love it so much, because I genuinely think it's the most important thing in the world.

Yeah, it is.

You know, and so that's why I'm very passionate about it. But you did not start out in the fitness industry. You started out as something else.

Yeah.

Does the word Minto ring a bell? Yeah, it does. Yeah, it does.

So tell us about that. Am I correct in saying that was your first business? That was my first business, yeah.

Okay. All right. Run us through that. How'd you—

So how and why did you start it?

Yeah, no, yeah, great, great question. In Denmark you have like, yeah, you have the ground school and then after that you have something called gymnasium, which is a 3-year education until you're 17, 18 and then go to university. And I was, I was getting like really bad, what do you call that? Grades.

Yeah, yeah, me too.

Really bad.

Yeah.

Because I never really knew what should I use this for?

Yeah.

You know, and then I went into this gymnasium, which was a business-oriented gymnasium. And the first year there was a competition called Young Enterprise. And that was where you could enter into competition in the entire Denmark, 5 million people. And there was like 900 groups that wanted to start a business, and we had to create a product, create an idea, and use everything we learned. And the first year I sucked. Yeah, you know, I was more— I was busy looking after the girls. Yes, where's the party? And I played soccer, more interesting with my soccer. But then the second year I got an idea where I said, listen, I was in Copenhagen sometimes, and every time I went to Copenhagen, I went into all these cool fashion shops. And I went to my home city, it was, everyone was wearing the same. Yeah. It was H&M. It was at that time, no Zara, but the same kind.

No Zara.

That was no, it was forbidden.

I would know what to do. I don't think it existed.

Yeah. And then I was like, wow, what if I can gather all the unique boutiques online? And this was when, this was in 2006, 2007. And at that time we didn't buy clothing online because we were so worried, will we get the right size?

Oh yeah. It was like ordering off like the, the silk road.

Yeah, the black market. I know, it's a t-shirt for that.

Yeah, exactly.

It was so strange.

So, so I went off the second year and we did that business model and we entered all these competitions, local, national, and we ended up becoming number 2 in Denmark.

Okay.

And that was when I first felt like a success. Wow, I'm good at something.

Yeah. And so wait, just to run me through like the customer experience, like how does the money hit your account from Minto?

So like, got it. Yeah, but this was the, this was the original idea and I didn't touch it after that. We just won a competition.

Yes.

Yeah. Then years passes on and I moved to Copenhagen and my childhood friend Conrad, he calls me. At that time I was a nightclub manager. That's— I was 21 years old.

We all were.

Yeah, you were.

I kind of worked in the nightlife industry, so sure. I used to work in Portobello's and made flyers.

Oh really?

Yeah.

You know, we all, we all do a little stint.

Yeah, exactly. Well, that was a great job for me at that time.

Yeah.

And Conrad, he calls me and he said, Mike, that idea you won this second— or lost the first place with shoot, let's make that into a real business.

Yeah.

And I said, fuck yeah, let's do it. And we just decided to, you know, invest all the money we had. We were 19, we were 20.

Yeah.

All the money we had, take it alone and went straight at it. And the first half year we were almost bankrupt. Like, we spent like, literally, we couldn't sign anyone. We spent all on market, nothing worked. And the idea was to take a local fashion shop into an online market where people had access to it. So we were about to close down, but then I did a good job in this nightclub, and the owner of the nightclub, he invited me to Miami. This was in 2008.

Okay, now what age are you?

I was 21.

Okay, I was 21.

Miami, that's— yeah, oh man, that's a good time.

That's a good— that was a good time. And he just checked out. So he was the co-founder or main investor of Just Eat.

Yeah. Oh shit, right?

So he invited me there. He just checked out of Just Eat, and his lifestyle was, you know, a dream lifestyle.

Yeah, he had all the cars I dreamed about.

Yeah, he had— he was in in a great physical shape. Oh no, it's just a good role model. And after 10 days there, he says, Mike, do you want to start more nightclubs with me around the world? I said, no, no, I can't do that. I have a business that's almost bankrupt, so I need to figure out how to make that work. What is that business? And within 24 hours, they invested in us.

Okay, how much did they invest?

But they almost— they stole the business.

There's gonna be a good episode. Yeah, we're getting into it, into the dirty stuff.

It's like GTA.

But they also know I owe them everything because they taught me everything. But they invested €100,000.

Yeah.

And they got 70% of the business.

Yeah. You know what? So like I've been, a lot of people have made investment offers to me for like your Gameplan, Fuel Case, just even like people have tried to buy my YouTube channel and like, which is essentially like trying to buy my personal brand and they do a revenue share. I always say no. And I forgot, I actually did initially, I did an equity share with Fuel Cakes.

Yeah.

And it was the big, I gave away like 30% of it. It was the biggest fucking mess ever. So like when people are, they, it's not even listening. If people hear about like, oh, I really want investment. Oh, I want to get a loan.

Yeah.

It's a slippery slope. You know, oftentimes you're better off just bootstrapping, which is just pretty much getting all your shit together and doing what you can instead of bringing external people in. Because when you do that, you're getting into bed with someone.

Oh yeah.

You are like literally in a relationship with them and that if you have a little falling out or anything, it goes to complete shit. So tell me the story, right? Okay. So I got 70% and then how did it, how did it go, Sarah?

But then it, then it exploded.

Okay.

It literally exploded. So, and that's because they were like extremely respected. You know, Just Eat is a big business and we actually did, we did a Just Eat just for fashion. Okay, that's what we did.

Yeah, yeah, right. That's a really good way to explain it.

Yeah, so we did a Just Eat for just for fashion, and today Mentor is doing €500 million a year. You know, it's a big business.

Do you still have that?

No, I sold it.

I sold it too early.

Even PayPal, yeah, I sold it too early.

I'll pay for the coffee today, not in that case.

And then, so, okay, you had, um, another business as well, um, Ocast, or—

Yeah, that was later on.

Okay, later on.

Yeah.

Well, what was that? Run me through that.

Yeah, so, so I, I, I stopped in Minto in 2016 and I had a great offer at that time. It was a dark time of my life because I've been living in 8 countries traveling the world with Minto for 4 years.

Okay.

And I was burned out. Yeah, I was burned out. Um, and then I went to Stockholm. I was living in New York at that time and I went to Stockholm, but right before I went to Stockholm, I met Jeff Crayhill.

Okay.

You know, from Playbook.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And we actually decided to start that business. Yeah, we started that business together. And, uh, I was so in love with a Swedish girl.

Yeah.

And I was tired of chasing money, you know. And now I just felt like chasing love. That went like shit.

That's probably the worst thing you can do.

Yeah.

Oh, I wasn't ready.

Yeah.

Um, and, uh, so I went down from 33% of shares in Playbook App to 3%. That was the deal if you quit the full time.

Okay.

So in Stockholm, uh, I have a big debt. I have to play because I didn't sell my shares in Minto yet, and I had like 450,000 in debt. And, you know, I even took a credit to pay my debts because in Mintos there was a period where we needed capital and I needed to take a loan to follow the investment round, not to be diluted.

Yeah.

And I just took a loan. Yeah, €450,000. Great, let me do it.

That would scare the fuck out of me, you know, like I've never taken a loan in my life.

No.

I think I would really do badly with it. Yeah, but I would always having that like over my head, I would, you know, it would freak me out kind of. Kind of, it's kind of against like Irish, Irish Catholicism.

Yeah, I agree with you.

I, we're like, even none of my Irish friends, we don't have credit cards. We, we've, none of us use credit cards. Like, I know, I, I've never had a credit card in my life. The money goes into my account and I either stack it or spend it. Yeah, yeah.

I've never had a credit card.

That's why you do so well.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, that's why I'm like just very, uh, simple person, you know.

It's okay, you tell me, you take this loan, I take this loan And, you know, years passes by and I quit Mintu. I didn't sell my shares yet. I do Playboy Gap and I go back to Stockholm and I have, I have no money. I have a big debt. I'm hard broke. I'm just, I'm a mess. And I meet this guy, actually, I, I, there was Wi-Fi on the flight, so I was like, I need something to do in Stockholm. So I text this guy called Erik Casiers and he's an entrepreneur in Stockholm. I said, Erik, I have no idea what to do, but I need something. Oh, I have something. Okay, tell me about it. And I said, yeah, that's great. And I met with him in Stockholm and that was in a totally new industry within the media industry. So his idea was to take, um, traditional medias and take their media kits. You know, when you wanna buy advertisement in magazines. Yeah. Or you wanna do banner advertisement on the website, you need to go into their website to click on a little link saying advertisement and then you get a PDF.

Yes.

And it's outdated. It's not even interactive. And Erik, he said, let's take all the media kits onto one platform so you can search what you want. And you can place a bid.

Ah, nice.

It's a great idea.

It's a marketing— yeah, marketing agency almost. Yeah, correct. Yeah, yeah.

So we started that, and, you know, my salary was— what did I start with? I got— I bought myself in for the last money I had, and my debt was not paid, and I was in almost minus, minus, minus, minus. But I still bought myself in because I wanted to have a share of the company. And my salary was, what, €2,500 a month?

Okay.

You know, and I, I come— I came from €15,000 a month. Yeah.

And so So how did you like adjust to that living, you know, because there's a different lifestyle? I actually heard— it's funny, it feels funny quoting him, but Dan Bilzerian. Yeah, yeah, he actually had a really— I actually like him, I think he's quite funny. People hate on him. Yeah, he had a really good quote and he's talking about— and it's talking about like the hedonic treadmill and how you're happy with what you're used to, but if you go down, it's terrible, but if you go up, you're setting this new standard For example, if you, you, you, you have a Golf GTI or whatever, sorry to offend anyone who drives a Golf. If you're driving a shitty Golf, right?

Okay.

And then you get a Ferrari, you're gonna be just so happy.

Yeah.

And then after the Ferrari, let's say you get like a one of a kind Lamborghini Aventador, you know?

Yeah.

You're, you're gonna be even happier. And so if you keep going up, you keep getting happier. But the problem is if you go below that, you'll be miserable. So like at one stage at the start, you would've been really happy with the Golf. Because you got a taste of the Ferrari, correct? Then you can't go back down. So I thought that was a very interesting point, and it's so true because like, if when you were starting out, you'd probably love €2,500 when you're like 18, you know, when you're like, that's a lot of money. I started out on €1,800. Yeah, that was minimum wage in Ireland, you know, and I was so happy to even get that.

Yeah.

So how are you going from like, you know, €15,000 more to down?

I, I think I've pulled back out my it, my grind.

Yeah.

And I knew that, um, I knew that I had it in me, and I said, you know what, fuck it, that's all I have. And I don't want to be an employee of somewhere, I want to be an owner. So my pride was more important to be an owner. Yeah. And that was my ticket in.

Okay.

And, and I knew that, you know, hard work pays off, hard work pays off, hard work pays off. So I just knew that I just need to sign 100, 200, 300, 400 customers within 3 years, which is a lot.

Yeah.

We were— they had been fighting for 20 customers for 4 years. Yeah. But I was hungry.

Yeah.

And not only hungry, I was in danger. You know that you're in danger with your economy.

Exactly.

You are dangerous when you come to that point. Yeah.

When your back's up against the wall.

Yeah.

You know, so there's two situations in my life where I can remember I was like that. There was one where it was like I was very— it was like 2017. I was just starting out and in YouTube and like something happened. I think like the apartment that I was staying in, like, it got sold. The owner sold it or something. I was renting it. Whatever happened, I had to move home for like 2 months. Yes. And it really felt really weird because I've always had a nice apartment, and then I had to move home.

And during those 2 months, I actually kind of loved it, you know.

I worked really hard, and then, like, I ended up getting an even sicker place after that.

But that's your grind.

Yeah, yeah.

Sometimes, like, when you go back, it, it catapults you forward.

That shows your character.

Exactly.

Yeah, it shows what you're really made of.

Yeah.

And one of my very good friends, he's the early investor in Vibe.

Casual.

Yeah, I met a lot of amazing personalities and he always said to me, he said, Mike, when you have a lot of money, you're the worst. It's true. So when I started now, when I make money now, yeah, I pretend I don't have them. Yeah, because I'm better on the edge. Yeah, right. I'm more creative, I'm thinking out of the box, and that's what I do. So no, but so I took that old cast from 20 customers to 200 customers and I even opened up in 3 other markets in 1 year.

Okay, nice.

Right? And now my salary was back, and now the offer came on Minto. I could pay my debt.

Yeah, good feeling.

Good feeling.

It's like, it's weird. It's like just knowing that debt is on your shoulders, that was— it would freak you out, you know.

Yeah. But looking back now, so the valuation I sold for was way below what it was because they knew that Mike has a lung Mike has no money and he has 3 months left until his credit line runs out. They knew it.

Yeah, yeah.

Business comes in and, you know, Conrad, my childhood friend, he just said, I'm sorry, Mike, there's nothing I can do. And I, you know, I cried. I said, you was fucking kidding me. He said, but this business— and I remember when I sold my shares, we had a promise, and when we started the business together, we said we're going to buy an Audemars Piguet when we check out of this. So Conrad didn't check out. I got a shitty deal on the table, which was okay. It was a two-digit number, a million euros, right?

Okay, nice.

But it was still way below.

Yeah, yeah, of course. Which is always— you feel a little bit cheated.

And then, but still, and then I bought a— shut the fuck up— Audemars Piguet to myself. And I was like, I promised Conrad to buy the same. So I bought the exact same for Conrad.

No way.

I bought myself a 911 4S. Nice. And I took my car and I took the watch and I went to the office of Mintu. I said, I always keep my promises.

The Terminator over here. Oh my God.

Okay. And then so after this, so for anyone listening, me and Mike were actually indirectly business partners.

Yeah.

Because I was with Playbook for a little while as well, using it to sell my training programs. A really good service. Tell me, we're on to business number 3 now. And before now, we'll get into the good stuff.

No problem.

Business number 3 was Playbook, which a lot of people watching this will be in the fitness industry. They'll be trainers. There are probably gonna be a few people who are on Playbook watching this. You know, I know a few of my friends are, oh yeah, watch the podcast. So tell me, like, how did you get in with that crew and how did you start that? This, yeah, now this is what I'm really interested in.

Yeah, cool. No, it's a great story. So, um, when Mintzlaff was expanding, I was the guy who was the expansion manager. Yeah. So I was flying around in all the countries and I ended up in America. I lived in Miami for 6 months and lived in New York for 1 year. And in New York, you know, when you're alone and you, and you just need to meet people. So I just went out and I met Jeff Crayhill. Yeah. And I loved him.

What club? What club?

No, actually, it was—

yeah, I'm like 11. It was 11, wasn't it?

PhD, I believe it was. Okay. I believe it was.

Some rooftop, high nose.

Man, I love Miami so much.

No, this was New York.

Oh, this is New York. Okay, sick, because I'm going to New York in 2 months.

Yeah, it's busy over there.

Yeah, yeah.

Great. So I, I, I'm being set up with Jeff Krayhel, um, with a girl called Carissa. She said, Mike, you need to meet Jeff. And I met him and we just literally, it was like a bromance from day one. I love this dude. We both were reading self-development books. He was in a, in a, in a family office doing investments and, you know, so many things. He, he introduced me to New York.

Yep.

That was a wild period.

Yeah.

Thank you, Jeff.

Thank you, Jeff. My name is Jeff.

Yeah.

And, uh, and then we kind of split up and, uh, And at some point, I remember I was in Stockholm, and I was— we, me and Jeff, we haven't spoken together for 2, 3 years. And I'm in the bathtub, and I just came home from a workout. And I remember I saw this guy down in the gym, and he was— his name is Akkurahim. He's unbelievable physique.

Yeah, I think I know what you're talking about. Yeah.

Oh my God, I was just looking at him. I just wanted to know what he eats.

Yeah.

How he sleeps, how he breathes. I said, if I could just subscribe on this guy.

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

I was like, wait, wait, yeah, that was a good fucking idea. Because that was the time where most of the fitness influencers didn't know how to monetize at that time, bro.

I was selling a fucking PDF, PDF. And so there would like be a group of lads in Dublin who would buy it and they just WhatsApp it to all their friends. Yeah, so like, so I had to think of something as well, you know, that would just be a subscription service almost, you know.

Correct.

Yeah.

Yeah, but I'm not going to take the entire credit. So I came up with the initial idea, but the real magician here is Jeff. Jeff took it to, to, to where it is today.

Nice.

I was just the idea guy, and I called Jeff. I had a graphical designer that could quickly show what it was. I said, Jeff, do you want to start this with us? And he said, well, come to New York, let's talk about it. Yeah. And I went there, and, and Jeff and I, we took it on together with Casper, and I was in New York for 3, 4 months. And that's where it happened when I felt like going back home home. Yeah. So I, I'm not, you know, I'm actually not the guy who made Playbook app. That is Jeff.

Yeah.

But I came with the initial idea and so on, and Jeff took it to where it is today.

Okay. And so what was your, like, uh, role in Playbook? Like, what percentage did you own, or were you a partner?

Yeah, I was the co-founder, so I went in with 33%.

Okay.

You know, me, Casper, and Jeff, 33%. But because I left, you go down in percentage.

That's it.

And then I was in, in need of money, so the last percentage I had left, I met a guy in Stockholm that was huge in the fitness industry.

Yeah.

Have you heard about Lenus? Lenus?

Yeah, Lenus.io. Yeah, they're massive. Yeah, they've contacted me a few times. They're meant to be really good.

They're super good. I know Bertrand, the co-founder and CEO. So the investor in Lenus, he bought my shares in Playbook for candy. Okay. Because I was in need.

You see, you're always selling too low.

Wow, man.

This time I'm not selling anything. Nothing.

Taking it to the grave. Yeah.

That's awesome. But here, and just while we're on the topic, Um, while we're on the topic of— when I noticed when you said, uh, you know, I want to know his training and nutrition, the guy, what's yours like? Because, you know, you're in insane shape, and that's something that I like to talk about on this podcast because you're— it's very easy to get caught up in business talk, and I think it's always like, I love asking anyone, you know, what's their day-to-day training nutrition look like.

Yeah, sure. So it, it was better one month ago. I, I let a little bit loose.

Okay. And by the way, for anyone listening on Spotify, Mike is in in fitness model shape.

He is insane shape.

All right.

Wow.

Yeah, Rob Lipsett says that.

I can stop the podcast right now.

I'm happy.

We're done.

Bye guys. Uh, no, but I'm, um, I'm very rigid in my habits, you know. I wake up 5 AM, first thing I do, I meditate, then I visualize, then I do stretching. And, and I try to wait with my breakfast. I try to do fasting.

Yeah, me too.

Yeah. And I'm typical. I typically was in the gym around 6 AM right when my daughter was born.

Yeah.

But now, you know, it's different. She's 6, 7 months old, so I'm there at 10.

Yeah, yeah.

Whenever you can go.

Yeah, whenever.

Yeah, yeah.

I'm in the gym every day, or at least active every day.

Yeah. And I see him in there.

Yeah, yeah. But I'm not taking my shirt off next to him.

I can verify he's in there every day.

Rob Rob has body fat in minus.

Not at all, not at all, not after that summer. Yeah, but yeah, so, uh, you train— what type, like, split do you follow?

So I literally do, um, no split right now. I'm focusing on just upper, lower, upper, lower.

Yeah.

And, um, what I'm trying— when I'm eating, I just know my macros. You know, my first book is called Start with the Habits in Danish. I wrote my first book, Start with the Habits.

No way, is it a fitness book?

It's a fitness book.

Oh, no way.

And more also a mindset book. Yeah, yeah, because I had an online coaching business. Yeah, when I left Allcast— quick story— I left Allcast, I had enough money, now I just wanted to follow my passion.

Yeah.

So I started an Instagram account and I called it Too Busy to Be Fit.

Nice.

Because everyone was too busy.

Yeah, yeah, right. A lot, a lot— that's like, um, you're appealing to a certain demographic, a certain niche, you know.

Yes.

It's like, uh, you see a lot of personal trainers and in their bio they're like, I'm here to help fit busy moms.

Yes.

You know, like, but the more niche you can get, that's what I'm trying to say, the better it is until you become really a big brand, right? Exactly. So, and that business, the first year we did €1.3 million.

Damn.

You know, first year.

So like, for anyone listening, the amount of money you can make in the fitness industry. Oh my God. Like, all my friends who are doing online coaching, apps, and YouTube are all fucking billionaires.

But really, you know, you got to live your brand.

Yeah, yeah.

Oh yeah.

If you don't live your brand, you're nothing.

Yeah, exactly.

You're nothing.

Yeah, yeah.

Which is also why my brand now, you know, I train people in, you know, reaching their goals. I train people in, in how to design the dream life and so on. But anyway, so my fitness schedule is train every day. I walk every day. I'm active all the time.

Yeah, easy to do in Marbella. Yeah, it is. Like, I, I just love when I just walk around my neighborhood. I do a walk like every evening. I'm just like, thank you, God. Like, I'm literally just like, what the hell? This is so surreal. That's looking at the man. That's what me and Linda say. We're like like we are out of our depth.

But how's the weather in Ireland? It's raining and gray.

It's terrible. It's even worse than the UK. Like, it is, it is. Is it worse than the UK? Yeah, it's a little bit like further off and it's, you know, fucking upside ice.

My God.

Hey man, it's freezing and it rains. Like, this is actually the worst summer Ireland's had in 20 years.

Got it.

It's rained pretty much every day. So like, and that is such an impact on your day-to-day life, your mood, your mindset, your walk.

But that must be a driver for you as well to keep this lifestyle you have.

Massive. You don't want to go back massively, right? That is literally— you've just said it, you've said it perfectly. And Alex Hormozi has the best quote ever. I love this one. He goes, sometimes we need, you know, something to motivate us to run towards, and sometimes we need something to run away from.

Oh yeah.

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Much more powerful. But that's what drives people. That's what drives your ego. You know, you have 3 brains.

Yeah.

Okay.

Okay.

You have a conscious brain. Yeah. You have a subconscious brain and you have your ego.

Oh man, the ego gets its own brain.

But yeah, I'm telling you, so the ego, you know, all it wants is to have pleasure and avoid pain.

Yeah.

And you know, sometimes the pleasure gain is not enough, so you need to find the pains. I have a very good story. So I was coaching a mom.

We got time, let's go.

Great. I was coaching a mom in my online program. I had 900 clients every month, but her, I noticed, you know, because I always took care of the special cases, that the ones that was hardly motivated. And so yes, and my team took care of the rest.

Okay.

Okay. And she was gaining weight. She was gaining weight. She was gaining weight. And I said, okay, she's not checking in. She's not following protocol. But suddenly something happened. You know, one week, boom. Next week, boom, down, down, down. And I could see she was committed.

Yes.

Her updates was fully committed. And she lost, I think it was in 3 months, she lost 12 kilos.

That's so much. Like, even a lot. That's like 30 pounds, 25 pounds. Yeah. So it's a lot.

So I called her. And I had to ask because I wanted to have that blueprint. Yeah, because, you know, I want to know. Yeah. And because if I can turn that into a business, that was great.

Yeah.

So she said, I'll tell you what happened, Mike. I was on the way to school with my daughter, and I'm overweight. I've been failing in this, and I feel like shit. And my daughter looks out the window and she says— and she sees another mom running next to her daughter on the school. And she says, Mom, I wish that was you running with me.

Fuck. Oh my God. Imagine hearing your daughter say that. That would be fun. That would hit you in the soul.

So instead of— so now everything changed in her. So her pain was not to live up to her daughter's role model. Yes, that changed the game.

Well, so the— another amazing quote, and this is actually probably one of my favorite ones, and it hits me the hardest: hell is when you get to the gates of hell and you're shown the person that you could have been. Oh, oh my God, that's Hell.

That is—

it shows an exact— they hold up a mirror— God or whoever, Satan, whatever you want— they hold up a mirror and go, this is the person you could have been.

Yeah.

That's the most hard-hitting thing I can actually think of.

Yeah, it is.

Like, if that— and so that's what the mother saw.

That's what the mother—

she just saw, like, you know, the fit, healthy mom running around. And of course she can be that. And then she did, and she did it for something bigger than herself—

her daughter.

It's a wild one, you know.

Yeah, I loved it.

Yeah.

So my, my brain was always thinking, how can I trigger that in everyone? One. So that's when I started working with mindset.

Yes.

You know, and I find those trigger points in people and I make them run.

Perfect. This is, this is running smooth. This is perfect. So now, okay, right, bring me on to that. What are some basic— let's say someone comes and they want to improve their overall mindset, their mood, you know, what are some of the first things that you would do?

Yeah, so first thing I would do, I would, I would literally ask people, what do you want more of in your life? Yeah, like, just tell me everything you want more of.

Yes.

And when they say it first time, you know, you can literally feel that they have so many limiting beliefs that they don't aim so high.

Yes.

Because if they don't know how to do it, they don't dare to dream about it. Yeah. So I just make them make a list, and, you know, I take— it's the process. You have to open people up.

Exactly. And it's all very, uh, I'd say every case is quite different when you're working with someone. Definitely. And so one thing that I started doing maybe like 3 years ago is doing like one-on-one fitness coaching, you know, because usually I would just do it through apps and ebooks and YouTube videos. Yeah, but in like about kind of like after the pandemic, I started doing like I would take on 20 guys.

Yeah.

And I work with them one-on-one, and everyone had a different motivation.

Yes.

You know, it was all completely different. You know, it was like you just have to sit down and have a chat really. Definitely. And be like, what's your motivation? Why did you sign up to this program? Why do you want me as your coach? You know, and then you, you kind of get to the bottom of it and you go from there.

Yeah, very good. Yeah, very Good. And you know, we people, we always want more of something and less of something. So I make them go through that exercise and I help them a little bit. And it could be everything from, I would like to have more time for journaling. Could be that. I would like to have— and then you have some people, I would like to have a Ferrari. Yeah, it's different. But you just need to get to, to, on to that path. And then the next exercise I give them, of course there's many ways to go, but it's also tell me what's draining you in your life at home and at work. Make a list and tell me what gives you energy in your life at home and at work. So they make that list. And after that, because, you know, when you want to work with people's mindset, you have to understand, we humans, we are unconscious, uh, incompetent, um, unconscious incompetent.

Yes.

We don't know that we don't know.

Yeah, yeah, that's right.

So yes, it takes a minute to get that, but we don't know that we don't know. We don't realize it.

Yeah, we don't know.

We don't know.

So how can you know what to improve when you don't know that you don't know what to improve? Right?

Yeah, exactly.

You need to move people really quick from unconscious incompetent to conscious incompetent.

Yeah.

So what I do, I take them through an exercise where I make them rate themselves in different areas of their life. Could be their relationships, it could be their finances, their career, their spirituality, their physical shape, and so on, so on. And I say, in all these areas where 10 is the dream, yeah, and 1 is absolutely shit, tell me where you are now. Now, yeah, they start to rate themselves. And after that exercise, I say, all right, you need to be at a minimum on 8 on every area.

Yeah.

So now tell me, what area would you like to improve in first?

And you do it like one at a time?

Yeah, you take the one that will have the greatest impact.

Yes.

Yeah, yeah. So now, you know, you get them on the track, and then I ask them to say, all right, brainstorm everything. Because people, we already know. Yeah. Like, we have— I believe we have an inner greatness. So, for example, let's say that you are a person and you are overweight. Now you go into a chocolate shop, but there has already been a voice inside of you saying, don't do it.

Yeah, right.

That's what I call the little woman from Philly. This is a great story. Okay, I'll give you a woman from Philadelphia.

Okay, Philadelphia. Are you ready?

So you know the Wild Wild West? Yeah, the old movie. So a horse carriage, you have a driver from the wagon, horse wagon. And you have 5 ropes and 5 horses. And in that wagon you have a little woman from Philadelphia, nicely dressed.

Yeah, okay.

Little princess.

Nice.

You see it for you?

Little Western hottie, you know?

Correct. Now let's take this into an imaginary parallel or metaphor. So the horse wagon symbolizes your body. The driver is your intellect. The ropes is your emotions. And the horses is your 5 senses. You're smelling, you're seeing, you're hearing, and you're feeling, and you're tasting.

Okay.

All right. And in the wagon, the little woman from Philadelphia, that's your higher self.

Okay.

So I've seen a man, 150 pounds, being persuaded from a little taste bud, yeah, weighing less than an ounce, right? Running like a wild horse into the baker shop. To buy everything that will kill him. But he's, he's a slave for his senses. Yeah. And here is the little woman from Philadelphia. She's sitting in there, but the driver and the intellect is dead.

Yeah.

And she says, no, don't buy that. You need to eat more veggies, drink more water, do this. And I've seen the same horses running into a bar, making people drink alcohol, sniff cocaine, take ecstasy, you know. And we, if we don't get the control over our driver in that seat, our intellect, we will always be running from our senses.

That's a powerful one. Like, that's what you said there as well, about like the slightest thing can like set a man off uncontrollably. So how do you— how would you say to someone to get more, become more disciplined in their life? As that's something that I get asked a lot. You know, this is the classic thing of motivation versus discipline and all that. And the answer is always, you know, to be more disciplined.

It is.

So how would you tell someone, or how would you advise someone to become more disciplined?

It develops self-awareness.

Okay. Oh, nice.

First step, self-awareness. Become aware. Because if you don't know that you don't know, you, you screwed.

Yeah.

Right. You think that it's just perfectly normal to go and buy chocolate cakes and so on.

Yeah.

So self-awareness and then start to use your willpower, right? Discipline, willpower. So your willpower you have at all times. So start small. Right? So, but you have to start to paint a picture of who you want to become, because if you don't have this mental picture of where you want to go, it's hard to say no to something. So instead of saying no, I teach people to say yes to that.

Yeah, yeah, you understand? Yeah, you know what? So actually, um, I read the book Atomic Habits. Yeah, there's a really good point in it, and it says you have to identify as the person you want to be. So I'm not a smoker, you know, if you're trying to quit smoking smoking, you have to tell yourself, I'm not a smoker. Or if you're trying to become fit, you have to say, I'm a fit person, this is how I would act.

Your self-image.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So you're kind of— it's kind of a more positive way of saying no, you know. You're saying yes, yes, I'll go to the gym, you know.

But you need to have that. So I make people describe the absolute best version of themselves. I make them do auto-suggestions and talk to themselves like the best version of themselves, because it's proven you are a result of your most dominating thoughts.

Yeah.

So if you immediately wake up in the morning and your inner voice says you're fat, you're dumb, you're a loser, you'll go out into the world like that. So you need to take the control by starting— make just like a Hollywood actor, you know. Have you ever heard, you know, Jim Carrey?

Yeah, of course.

Yeah, of course.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But you know, he has been out saying, listen, I need— sometimes I need psychotherapy and I need hypnotherapy to get back to Jim Carrey. And there was a time where he couldn't find back to Jim Carrey. They go— they find— they really live themselves in into that role so much that they changed the entire system. And he said, when I found back to Jim Carrey, I figured he had a fucking depression.

Yeah, yeah, he's been— he had a tough life, Jim Carrey, you know. He's always kind of— I think he's been suffering a little bit.

Yeah, I think that's my question for you.

Have you ever done therapy?

Yes, yes, yeah, I'm doing it right now. Oh really?

Where, in Marbella?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's like, uh, no, I'm doing it online. Yeah, yeah, no, that's apparently— that's kind of a better way to do it now because you find a therapist that's more suited. A therapist in Marbella probably fucking needs therapy themselves.

Be like, hey, yeah, I'm a therapist.

But if you don't know that you don't know, you—

Exactly.

And so what, um, like, you know, because I want to start getting therapy as well, you know, something I want to do. A lot of my friends do it, um, and they say it's all amazing. And so like, what do you talk about when, when you're doing your therapy?

Yeah, right, right, right now I'm, I'm diving into my, my inner child that has been lacking a lot of love and so on and so on. So I'm trying to find my my little child and give him the love that he didn't get when he was, um, when he was little Mikey. Yeah. So I'm doing psychotherapy, I'm doing trauma therapy, I'm going all in.

Nice.

Yeah, yeah. I had a, I had a spiritual awakening one year ago. I was actually on a beach down here in Marbella.

No, that's the— my beach.

Yeah, I talk to you every day.

Can I come to your beach?

Yeah, you can come.

Yeah, it's my beach now. But that's it. I walk down everything because it's like 10,000 steps, you know. I walk down and I just look at the sea and it's literally—

You know he's a fitness guy when he says this 10,000 steps.

10,000 steps. I'm like, I don't measure things in kilometers. No. I measure things in steps.

Yeah.

I'm like, I have to go to the bathroom. Mm, that should be about 20 steps. That's literally— I'm like, gotta go to my car. I need more steps.

Yeah, it's only 7 steps.

Yeah, so you're down in Møstøl.

So yeah, I was there and the day before I had an 8-hour treatment from, you know, energy healer, a body therapist, and I was going in Denmark Dänemark, and I flew back home the same evening. And I'm on that beach, and suddenly I get this panic attack, you know, it's just coming to me. I'm getting— as in, my girlfriend was next to me, right? And I'm laying there and I'm not saying anything because, you know, I don't want to be a weak man.

Yeah, yeah, of course.

I'm just getting this panic attack, but there was something in me that just said, just let it come. Because normally if you get an anxiety or panic attack, you kind of resist it, right? And it gets worse. But something in me was ready and I just let it go. And then boom, my ego died. I experienced an ego death on the bed on Mistrava.

Fuck, because I had the mushrooms. Yep.

Brenda thought I was crazy. I said, Brenda, I can understand everything. I, you know, I started talking and I said, oh my God, I can, I can see my emotions. It was like my ego was a little troll in front of me.

Yeah.

And I could see, wow, he's, he's missing so much love.

Wow.

So when I had that, after that I started my journey and I've been going to this specialist and this specialist. So I'm, I'm in, I'm a work in progress.

And have you, just while we're on topic, have you ever done any mushrooms or hallucinogenics? I am, what's it called, ayahuasca?

No, no, I would love to do that.

Yeah, me too. I've never done it, but I've done mushrooms. I caught a good few times. Well, not, not like loads of times. No, no, like a few. Yeah, I've experienced it and, you know, yeah, you trip balls and everything, but I've never had any like profound experiences. No, but I would like to try out ayahuasca.

Oh, that's a rough one.

Yeah, that's, that's meant to be crazy.

Yeah, yeah, me too. Me too, I'd like to try that.

Yeah, when I was in Tulum like 2 years ago, there's like these little sign posters that advertise like, hey, come to our ayahuasca camp.

Really?

And I'm like, yo, Linda, do you want to go hit up an ayahuasca camp? Like, we were really considering it. Really? And then we were like, I probably, I'd see Linda, I'd look at her, she like grows a beard or something. And I can never look at her again. Yeah, I gotta be freaked out, you know.

Oh, it's not gonna be like that, but maybe next time we go back to Tulum.

One of my very good friends, he's probably the perfect icon of a perfect man. Yeah, he did ayahuasca. Okay, right. And, uh, and, uh, he said that was the most mind-blowing experience ever.

So I, I would like to try it, but me and you will try it. There's a camp in Marbella. Jorian Yates told me that.

Really?

I went there. Yeah, I know.

America or something.

It's a jungle somewhere, nowhere near Villa Lips. Yeah, like if I saw my house on ayahuasca, I would never be able to sleep there again. Like, these walls are closing in on me. Oh my God, I, I would lose my shit.

Yeah, let's look for— we can look for a place. I know there are some amazing places over where they really, they make sure that you are totally clean. Yeah, you're prepared.

Yeah, you gotta like fast for 3 days.

Yeah, if you're on any medication, whatever it is, you got to clean inside.

Yeah, yeah, it's very interesting. So now, right, we need to go on to your book Above Average. Uh, it's not out yet. No, but fill us in. What made you write it, and what's the general— what's the general gist of it?

That's a— it's a funny story. So my marketing team, they said to me 6 months ago, 7 months ago, Mike, we need a new lead magnet, which is something to drive in leads to our business. Can you write an ebook? Sure. Sure. So I started and I said, I need something that can really create value. Yes. I started writing and I started writing and I started writing. And before I was looking around me, I had like, what, 20,000 words? And I said, that's, that's not an ebook. Yeah, that's legacy.

That's a book.

That's a book.

Yeah.

And what I— the reason what made me write it was because, you know, I'm coaching a lot of people in reaching their goals in life. Yeah. And I'm coaching a lot of people to develop the best version of themselves. And you can use different platforms. You can use fitness as a platform. Or you can use Korea as a platform. There's many platforms to use it from. And I've just seen how people have limiting beliefs. I've, you know, I've coached people from zero to 100. So I wanted to write a book where I was literally in your face. Yeah, like in your face.

Yeah.

And I wanted to, instead of calling it How to Get Success, I've been living with so many people like you. You are what I categorize as an above average mindset. Yeah, right. You're not born like that. Yeah, no, no, because you're born like a clean sheet of paper. So you have developed your mind. Mind. Yeah. And you have taken steps. You might not know what it is, but if you look back, if I force you to look back, you have constantly chosen development. Yeah, constantly chosen improvement.

What started me was, uh, which completely changed my life— I used to actually be super negative when I was in school and failing everything, and I discovered the Law of Attraction, and that's, uh, which just completely changed my mind. Just visualization. And when I started, so if I wanted something, I would just act like it's already done.

Yes.

And I would replay play it, the scenario that I wanted to happen so many times in my head— I mean, I would play it every 5 seconds in my head to the point that it's the only thing I can think about. And I swear to God, I would see— it was like déjà vu. Yes, that reality would end up happening.

Wow.

So that's what changed my life completely, is visualization, replaying the scenario that you want to happen in your head, brainwashing yourself, you know, positive thinking, Law of Attraction. And ish, this shit works, you know. There's, there's no question about it.

Little— but listen, the oldest— so that's what my book is about. It's literally of taking the law of attraction into actionable steps together with productivity, together with everything you need around it. Because there's many people sitting and they think like, I can manifest my dreams. No, you got to fucking move. You know, it won't drop on your doorstep. But the reason why people don't move is because they don't believe they can. And law of attraction will get you on that frequency where you just know it. You get a knowing, right? And when you have a knowing, you just do. There's an old saying saying, what I hear, I forget. Forget. Yeah, what I see I remember, but what I do I know.

Yeah, it's the only way to learn really, right?

And you can just by visualization, you can trick your mind to believe you already did it. Yeah, because when you have an emotion and a thought combined, your subconscious mind doesn't know if that's reality or not. That's why you are shitting yourself when you take on a virtual reality and you're standing on this on the floor. So yeah, your mind is like, oh my God, I'm gonna fucking fall. So That's, that's what it is.

Yeah. And then also for anyone listening, you got to be extremely careful because the opposite works the same way, if not even stronger. Like if you have these negative thoughts and you're replaying the, the worst scenario that can happen, it's extremely likely it's going to happen. So you need to learn how to pretty much train yourself, you know, to default. We're all going to have negative thoughts, bad thoughts will slip in. You got to train yourself to snap out of it. You know, you kind of got to bitch slap yourself and take a step back.

But the reason why it's so difficult, I can actually tell you, so they've come really far in all the science, right? Okay. But science has become the new religion, which I believe is sad because, you know, what science didn't know 50 years ago was still fucking true. Now they just figured it out. Yeah. So, but what really makes the difference, Rob, is your emotions. When you are feeling an emotion, you are vibrating. That's the frequency.

Yeah.

Your emotions is your frequency. So a repetitive thought will create an emotion. So you got to think about what you think about.

Yeah.

So if you are constantly repeating thoughts that makes you feel guilt, shame, fear, now you're vibrating that frequency. That will attract it.

You know, apparently the word you said there, shame, apparently that's the lowest vibration possible. That's like the worst feeling a man or a woman can feel.

Correct. Yeah, that's correct. Yeah. So, you know, when you start to train to think and feel differently, well, you start to vibrate on a different frequency. But many people, they don't have— like you say, okay, I get negative thoughts, I need to change my focus. That's what you said.

Yeah.

But if people don't know what to focus on—

yeah.

So what you did, you imagined what you wanted. Now you have something to put your focus on because people don't think they can change their thoughts. Well, I have a quick experiment. So think of a black car.

Done.

Okay, you cannot think of a Coca-Cola Coca-Cola.

I'm literally picturing a Coca-Cola with wheels, right, driving along.

So, and that's what people don't understand. But you, now you could change from a car, but I said don't think of a Coca-Cola, but you thought of a Coca-Cola.

Yeah.

What people, they think is that I do not want that, I do not want that, I do not want that, please don't happen, please don't. That's wrong.

Yeah. And that's, you gotta, what do you want?

Yeah, that's the only thing your brain understands.

All right, perfect. All right, awesome. So, um, before we had a little power outage, that was a first. Yeah, but we were breaking at the 4 parts of the book. So just start again. Just got it.

Yeah, so the first part is about the power of your subconscious mind, because what people would like— we, the, the way we believe we are is who we are going to act as.

Yeah.

And that is your belief system, which is your subconscious mind. So whatever you believe, you will act as.

Yeah.

So that proves Hollywood actors, sometimes they can't find back to themselves because they believe they're that new character. So I teach people the technique weeks of reprogramming their belief system, right? And after that, I'm talking about personal power. I say you have the power to change your emotions and your thoughts. And the third part is how to structure yourself up, like how to set goals. Yeah, all these things. So it's a manual. And the fourth part, because I've read so many books and I need a process, like if— like I could tell you how to bake a lasagna, but if I don't give you the recipe, you're gonna be fucked. Yeah, like if it's a real advanced one, right?

You have to know Nice one. We're talking no microwave meals, you know, like a proper lasagna.

Microwave is a one-stop shop.

Yeah, exactly.

So the fourth part is what I call the Above Average Method. And I guarantee, and I know this sounds crazy, but I guarantee everyone who follows that method thoroughly, not just half-ass shit, thoroughly, you will get everything you want in your life with time.

Okay.

Like, I guarantee you that.

Well, what's like the core principle of the method?

What's like the main principle is for you You have to visualize it. Yes. And you have to believe you're getting it.

Yeah.

So that's the first, that's the core principle.

Yeah.

And then start to take small actions towards it.

Yeah. Do you know what, what I love for goal setting? And so you get, you get, this is why I actually call my app like Game Plan.

Yeah.

And my book, okay, Game Plan. So you get, you reverse engineer, you get the end first. So like where you want to be and then you work back from that on the shit you got to do to get there. Because if you actually do it the other way around, like if you just start trying to get there and throwing shit at the wall, you're going to be left, right, and everything. But if you— it's like, think about it, think about it and visualize it on a screen. So you're here at this point.

Yes.

And then once you figure out this point, it's a straight line.

Correct.

But if you're trying to find this point randomly, you're going to go left, right, left, right. It's going to be like a zigzag.

Correct.

So I think the best thing you can do with setting goals is to kind of work backwards, you know, and figure out what you want first.

And I totally agree. You spot on. And the challenge is, for people setting goals, we only set goals within our paradigm. So we only set goals within what we think we are capable of. Don't. Yeah, you need to set— you don't— you need to have no fucking clue how to get there. Because, you know, seriously. Yeah, yeah. Because if you have no fucking clue how to get there, you are now breaking your paradigm, right? And you will develop into a person that thinks different.

Yeah.

So I always teach people to set, um, A goals, B goals, and C goals. A goals is like, tomorrow I'm going I'm gonna buy some toilet paper. Yeah. I'll buy some milk.

Yeah.

And B goals is that, okay, in 1 year from now, I'm gonna do this, and that's something I can do. A C goal is the one to the fucking moon.

Yes, the big one.

Right? I want to be a multi-millionaire, have a sick big brand within fitness.

Yeah.

And that you need to have, right? And that's the one you need to visualize on because the rest becomes easy.

Yeah.

So I come from nothing. Literally, you come from nothing as well.

Yeah, well, I started, yeah, I, you know, yeah, I started with like 3, no savings or anything like that.

Yeah.

You worked your way up.

7 figures, you know.

But everything started with an idea. Yeah. And you started to believe in it because you started taking actions towards it, right? And the more you went, the bigger it got. And now nothing can stop you.

Exactly. So one of my first ever, I think it's like my first ever Q&A, third ever YouTube video, someone has asked me like, hey, where do you want to go with this channel? Like, why are you watching this? And I'm in this shitty shared accommodation in, and I'm so young, you know. Oh yeah, I'm wearing strange clothes as well. I'm like, you know, zero fashion sense. And I was saying like, I just want to be, you know, get as far as I can get in the fitness industry and get as many people, guys especially, into the gym lifting weights.

Beautiful.

And tracking the macros. And that video is so important to me. And like, I often go back and watch my first ever videos. Yeah. And it's crazy, but like, I know I was like, you know, kind of just starting out and didn't have a clue. But I also did know what I want, you know, and so I had that clear goal, you know. And so some people are like, they ask me like, hey, did you know you were going to like end up, you know, doing well? And I did and I didn't, you know. I, I knew exactly what I wanted and I believed I could get there, but I was still humble about it, you know. And I was like, it's going to require a lot of work. So it's kind of like a, it's a little bit of, little bit of both, you know.

That's the same, you know. I, I've been building my brand in Denmark Yeah. And I just knew. I always knew. I knew I'm going to be something in the world. Like, I'm going to be a big inspiration teaching people to, you know, self-improvement. And, you know, somebody— remember, I met you in the barbershop.

Yeah, yeah.

That was when I first came here, right?

I met you.

Yeah. And I was like, I know Rob, you know, I've seen Rob. I'm like, fuck it.

Hey, man, what's up? What the fuck you up to?

No, you have such good energy as well. Thank you.

Up someone, you know, just, just like, you're always in a good mood, smiling, laughing. This is larger than life guy coming up to the barber.

Yeah, but I remember that so clearly. That's so strange. That's when I like first moved here. Things were like half closed, half open, kind of wearing the masks. Yeah, but, but that was like, I remember actually like going up and telling Linda, I was like, oh, I just met this, this guy, he's the founder of an app.

Yeah, yeah.

Years. And I was like, oh, we're in, we're in the right place, you know.

Like, wow.

And that's when I started meeting loads of people in Marbella, and everyone's so friendly here, you know.

Everyone.

It's like, not— people think fast cars, yachts, prostitutes, brass.

It's like, that's everything.

But they think it's just that. But you actually will meet like the most friendly, down-to-earth people ever.

You know what I believe? You know, you, you become what you intend. So there's a difference from goals and intentions.

Yeah. And you'll, you'll find whatever you want.

Yeah.

Oh yeah.

You know, if you go to Marbella You want to live the fitness life, you know, sea swims every day, lifting outside in the sun, eating like the freshest Spanish food like in the sun, you can have that. And then if you want to like fucking stay up for 3 days in hotels and beach clubs, you can have that as well. Yeah, exactly.

And that's why people get lost.

Yeah, exactly.

Because it's right at your footstep, right?

Was there ever a stage in your life like where you were like just partying way too much and just going out of control?

Yes.

Okay, and how did you— first of all, did you enjoy it?

And say yes, yes, no regret.

Yeah.

So how did you pull yourself out of that? Yeah, good question. I think like, uh, I, I definitely have went through some phases where I was going out too much and, yeah, you know, not, not being true to myself. Correct. And, uh, yeah, I'd like to hear how you like pulled yourself out of that.

So yeah, uh, I'll take you back to Stockholm. I was living there and I sold my shares in Mintoo and I got a lot of money. Yeah, it's a two-digit euro million amount is a lot of money. That's like when you come from fucking nothing.

Yeah, Yeah.

And, um, and at that time I've been building my network, I've been meeting some really great entrepreneurs, but, but they were filthy rich and they had really, really wild habits.

And you, you got pulled in.

I got totally pulled in. No, actually I pulled them in.

I was the seller.

I'm not gonna be an angel.

Yeah, yeah.

So I went into that environment and, you know, weekend after weekend, private jet there, private jet there. You know, it was Wolf of Wall Street.

Yes.

Yeah, exactly. That's what it was.

That's the same shit, you know, you're doing the same stuff.

And, you know, it was abuse, abusing everything. Yeah, abusing your workout, abusing your work, abusing your money, abusing, you know, your system, your body, everything.

Yeah.

And there was a turning point where I woke up and I remember very clearly after a party and I just couldn't look myself in the mirror, you know. You know, fuck, I was just like, that's a heavy one. Yeah, that was good.

That's a good thing.

I didn't fucking like what I saw. Yeah. And that's when I decided to pull out. And 6 months later I moved here.

Yeah. Oh, no way.

Yeah.

Okay, so what's the party scene like in Stockholm? Oh, fuck, be pretty heavy, you know.

The parties, like, listen, they— this Stockholm people, they love to party. Yeah, they love to party. And you know, it's a lot of beautiful blonde women.

Well, that's the home of them.

Yeah, it's like you have Brazil. Yeah.

Yeah.

And you have Stockholm.

Yeah, you're Sweden. Yeah, yeah.

Um, the country of Stockholm. Um, and the Republic of Stockholm.

But they love going out and they're so open.

Yeah.

Like, you know, I'm from Denmark, you know, and I'm not even Danish because I lived 15 years of my life abroad. Yeah. When I came there, you know, invitation without small talk.

Yeah.

I was like, what the fuck is this?

Well, when you look like Mike, you know, a different story.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, so there's a lot of, a lot of partying in Stockholm. And you know, Dublin's kind of the same. Like, uh, I definitely find it easier to stay in in Marbella because I, I'm like, you have something to wake up for the next day. You're like, I want to like go for a walk.

Correct.

I want to go for a hike.

The weather is always good.

The weather is there.

You—

it's going to be 35 degrees, I want to go for a swim. Whereas in Dublin, it's like raining. You're like, it doesn't matter if I'm hungover. No, like, it fucking doesn't matter. So I might as well just go ahead and get pissed.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I think it's the same.

Yeah.

And with the comes, they've been hiding inside their homes for so many months.

Everyone goes crazy.

Go fucking crazy.

Oh man, you want to see Ireland in a heat wave. It's, it's like, it's like declared a national holiday. Like when it goes up to, I think maybe like once a year it goes up to like 28 degrees, always, always once for like 3 days. And I mean, people are jumping in the river, people are good, like falling around the streets. No one goes to work even if it's like a fucking Wednesday. Really? Like It's crazy because we never get it. So people go nuts. And that's why also when you see Irish people in Magaluf or Ibiza here, and same with English people.

Let's leave this.

Yeah, exactly.

They're in full tourism mode. So you looked yourself in the mirror and you didn't like it.

No, I didn't like it.

That's how you pulled yourself out.

Yeah, I started to give some different thoughts on my life.

Yeah, and Joel keeps me from going off the rails is I love fitness so much. And if I ever like see my physique going to shit, or I see like, you know, I'm looking fucking skinny fat, or I go into the gym and I'm feeling really weak, yeah, I'm like, oh well, that's not worth it for me.

No.

So it's kind of like a vain narcissistic way to do it, but it works for me, you know. Like fitness stops me from just going off the rails because I'm a crazy guy. I love to party and go out, but I love fitness more.

I think it's deeper than that. I think you have one of your values is integrity.

Yeah, for sure. I'm very true to myself, and I would, I would never, for example, just with this channel, uh, or with even like my social accounts or friends and family, I would just never promote anything that I genuinely wouldn't use.

And that's so visible.

And I've, I've been doing this now for 10 years, and not once in 10 years have I ever sold my soul or even like said something that like isn't true or anything, you know. I've always been very honest. And have that integrity. So thank you.

Appreciate it. So that's, I think, so that's what you find also so you can prove yourself in fitness, right?

Yeah.

So integrity for me, I lost my integrity and that was very painful.

Yeah.

So, and now, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm, I've never, I feel I started just now.

Yes.

I'm 38.

Okay. No, I was about to ask. I didn't even know. No, I'm 32.

Yeah.

So yeah, you know, it's, we're still right in that 30 space.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah. But people think that when you hit your 30s, especially as a man, people think when you hit your 30s, you're like, your life's over. As a man, you're only getting started. That's like, oh, men only have a fucking clue what they're doing at like 35. No, they only become like men at 35. Oh yeah, when I saw— when I see pictures of me at 22, I look like a baby. I'm like, I wouldn't fuck me, you know?

I'd be like a child. Yeah, but like, honestly, is it like I look I look so young.

And so guys think like, and you know, we're getting into relationships now as well. Guys think like, oh, you know, I got to get a girlfriend so early or, you know, why am I getting—

That mentality.

Exactly. You know, but guys like, wait till you're a little bit older and you'll really become yourself.

You know, you have your frontal cortex as a man, right? It's not even grown together until you turn 28.

Yes. Yeah, that's it. It's 28.

So that's where you start to become a little deeper.

Yeah. You start to ask yourself questions. I noticed that as well. I noticed like around 28, that's always kind of the year you figure it out. And so with relationships, you know, you mentioned a lot of Swedish girls, you know, you got Brenda as well. So, you know, run me through what's, you know, where you currently are with that. And like, how do you, how would you attract if you're a guy and you want to get in a good relationship? You know, how would you go about that?

Wow, it's a good question. First of all, I would love, I would seek to love myself first.

Yes.

Because, you know, if you are, if you are, so we have many people who has insecurities at some point in our life, right? Right. And, you know, equal attracts equal. So, you know, I believe we should— what I'm trying to do in my life, instead of searching for a relationship where I'm craving something that that person can give me, I need to be able to give myself that first. So instead of coming into a relationship to take, I just want to go in and give.

Yeah. And I think that's, as a man, that's even more important. You know, I'm quite old school. I think that the man should be like the provider, and I think generally that's going to lead to like a happier relationship as well.

Absolutely. I believe that too. But there will be times when the man as a provider, like I've been there. So when I say that is because I'm kind of saying there will be times.

Yeah, there does.

I know a friend.

Same one.

I know a friend.

I know a guy. Yeah.

Where you kind of, you lose everything or you risk everything or you are low or you change path and so on. And at that time, you know, you need to just have a partner that supports you. Because as I'm telling you, as a man, if you don't have a woman behind you that really loves you for who you are and not for what you provide, then you have a problem.

Yeah.

So, you know, when you— like Connor, I don't know, I don't know the story of his relationship, but it looks amazing. Like, she is what I've heard and seen in media, but you can never tell.

Yeah, she's there. Yeah.

And she makes him stronger. I'm sure she's half his success.

Yes. Yeah, I mean, no, 100%.

Yeah. And that is— that's what you need, that.

Yeah. Yeah.

So I would say what, what I've learned, you know, going out and getting all this one-time stand, one-night stands, you know, I'm done with that.

Interesting.

It's not— it's nothing for me.

Yeah. I had like a period in my life where like maybe like 3 years period where I was like single and going on loads of dates.

Yeah.

So yeah, fun for a little bit, but it just gets chaotic. And a lot of men will say like, oh, you know, they want to just go ahead and fuck bitches. Trust me, like you get sick of it, just chasing girls, right? You lose yourself. Yeah. Having that like one good girl to just support you. Oh my God, be your cheerleader. That is, that is, and grow together. Exactly. That, that's invaluable. That's here. So tell me, all right, speaking of, speaking of growing together, what's the next chapters of Mike's life looking like?

Oh man, so you know, I'm far from finished. Uh, you know, I have a little daughter, she's, uh, 6 months old, and the mother and the— I, we, uh, I wouldn't say we split up, we're best friends, but we've had some things we need to sort out. Yep.

We love each other very much, so we're working on it together.

Yeah, going out, Yeah. Um, so for me right now is to literally focus on just being the best version of myself. Yeah. At all times.

Yeah.

In my business, in my relationships, as a father, as a son, as everything. And you can't handle all the areas at one point, you know. And when you go in— when I go— when I go— and let me, let me just say third person— when I go into that era of my life, I realize that so many areas of my life a life I have not really nurturized. So that's where I am now. I'm 38 and I'm just pulling in water all the places where I need to do it. But it starts by pulling in water on myself. Yeah, I said I'm going to therapy, I'm meditating, I'm reading spiritual books, you know.

I'm going crazy, you know.

Yeah. And you're also— you're, uh, really going after your personal brand at the moment.

Yeah, I'm going super—

I'm going, yeah, super hard on that, you know.

My YouTube channel, that was actually Actually, I was inspired by you. Yeah, yeah, really?

Yeah, man. Yeah, I remember you said it to me and then you did it. Yeah, people that say to me, Rob, you want to start a YouTube channel? Rob, I'm going to start making podcasts. Zip. Nothing. Nothing. No upload. No, I'm not one, you know. Yeah, because people can't handle like getting 100 views on their first video because it doesn't matter, you know. Like, everyone starts there.

And you gave me that. I remember I asked you, what's the blueprint? And you gave me some good advices and so on. But also you said it, and David, uh, How to Be said it, and he said 100 videos. Yeah, first, first milestone, 100 videos. And that got stuck in my mind, 100 videos. Yeah, you know, and Gabriel, who's sitting in the studio as well, my video guy, I just told him, let's get to 100 videos. Yeah, let's get to 100. And that's what we're doing. Yeah.

And so it's also super satisfying. And that also works on any platform. Like, you can do like 100 posts, 100 reels, whatever it is, it works on everything. Then when you, so you do the 100 and then you sort most popular. There's a little tab, it's on every social media. You sort most popular, you just look at the top 10.

There you have it.

But then we do 10 more of them.

Correct.

And then it's super satisfying as well because a lot of times by default, if your videos are all right, you'll actually get 10 bangers in there. Yeah. Like with really, you know, solid views.

Yes.

You know, and it's very satisfying to see, but it, it's interesting. It's like, it's just by showing up. Like, anyone can literally do it.

Okay, I have a question for you.

Yeah, go on, hit me.

So how do you figure out what to say?

Yes.

Because I see you producing content like you're a machine.

Yeah.

And suddenly you're in the pool talking good advice, then you're there talking good. I'm like, he always looks fucking good and says something smart.

There's a lot of takes, there's a lot of editing.

But so what I might advise is— so I got about— I got this from Jordan Peterson— is just speak about what you know. Okay, so when I'm actually public speaking, you know, I go— I do a lot of talks. I'm actually doing a TEDx talk in a few months. Yeah, my second one. So I'm excited for that. And when I go up on stage, uh, you know, I'm doing actually another talk in Ireland next month as well on fitness. When I go up on stage, I don't prepare. I don't have a few key points I want to hit, but I don't have a script. I just speak about what I know, and usually what I know is fitness, fucking training and nutrition. I can answer any question you have because what I love— I can also talk a lot about mindset and social media and a little bit about online business as well. But so literally just speak about what you know. Got it. That is it. So you don't even have to think, you don't have to make a plan, you don't have to do research, you just go speak about what you know.

But for example, okay, good example.

Now I remember that I saw a video, like, you, you know everything about starting a company. Yeah, like, like you could just, as you just did. Yeah, you know, you could just answer a question without even hesitation.

Correct.

So just think about like, what do you know how to speak about? What's your life experience? And if you haven't got that life experience, you know, maybe you're like fucking 17 or something. Yeah, just go live life for a while, you know.

Yeah, correct. Oh wow, that's good.

Yeah, so that's it.

Good.

Yeah, but here, look, tell the people where they can find you and, uh, when we can get your book as well.

Yeah, sure.

Okay.

Yeah.

Well, my Instagram, Mike Røddor.

Yeah.

My YouTube channel, Mike Røddor. Would love if you guys subscribe.

Yeah. Everyone, everyone go hit that subscribe button right now. Seriously. Right.

I'm actually documenting my life.

Yeah.

So I changed the format. So I'm filming every day into a weekly video while documenting my, my journey from a Danish to a global brand.

Nice.

And my book will be out the 8th of October in 15 countries on Amazon. And it will be in pre-sale for weeks before, so in September. And that will— if you buy it on presale, here comes the selling point.

Yeah, go on.

If you buy it on presale, I've created this online course called The Above Average Method, and there I give you all the worksheets and everything you need and high-quality videos of how to implement all these 20 steps. So you can get that for free, and the value will be around $1,500. And that's my way of, you know, getting you guys to buy the book.

There you go. And can I get my hands on it?

Absolutely, it's yours.

I'll be, I'll be the game Man, I'll be, I'll be the guinea pig.

Yeah, oh absolutely. Yeah, but in version—

yeah, yeah, please, please.

I'll literally like walk up to you in the gym and I'm like, sign it, bro, come here. That was fucking awesome. But guys, here, seriously, everyone go check out Mike, uh, to like— at the energy I'm feeling after this chat makes me realize how much I love doing podcasts. So I hope you enjoyed this one. Keep it real, we're out of here. Until next time, peace.