The Simplest Mindset Shift to Build Your Dream Network, Scale to 9 Figures, and Sustain Growth with Jeff Fenster

I don't have anything unique and different other than I will stick to the goal, I will find the formula, and I will be repetitive in doing it. And that doesn't take skill. That just takes desire and relentlessness and being willing to take no in the face as many times as it happens. But I've had so many more no's and yeses, but one yes changes your life.

Hey everyone. Welcome back to the Earn your happy podcast. Today's episode is another throwback, one of my favorite conversations. And you guys know that I've had this podcast for eight years. So if you're newer to the podcast, I have literally recorded over 1400 episodes, you guys. So I want to make sure that you don't miss any of these super amazing, juicy conversations that I have chosen just for you. Because I can't tell you about the wealth of knowledge that is in this freaking catalog of throwbacks. I don't want you to miss it. It's truly what has change my life and helped me on my journey of growth in entrepreneurship, in relationships, in personal development. And I know that these messages are going to hit you in the same kind of powerful way that they hit me. So I hope that you love this one as much as I do. And let's get started on the episode. This is from our most recent event that that happened last week, depending on when you're tuning in. And we had the incredible entrepreneur Jeff Fenster on the show. So Jeff came to the event and spoke live. Chris and I did a Q and A with him and we decided to put this out as a podcast episode. So you guys are hearing this extra special insider edition of the dinner series with Jeff Fenster. He is the founder of multiple eight and nine figure businesses, including Everbowl, the ASAI franchise with 400 locations, business partners with celebrities such as Shaquille O', Neal, Drew Brees, Gary Vee, and so many more. I know you guys are obsessed with Gary Vee and to be business partners with him and get to work with him on a daily basis is freaking amazing. And he is the absolute master at doing spectacular things, but breaking them down in a simple and understandable way for entrepreneurs. As you're going to hear in this interview, we discuss concepts such as vertical integration, which blew my freaking mind. Chris had been telling me about it and he was like, you're going to, you're going to freak out when you hear about how Jeff talks about this in his business. And it's true. It changed my life that moment on stage when he went through the whole process. And I'm absolutely taking this to heart on how I'm going to build glossy. He talks about how to build celebrity relationships the right way and what to do when a relationship goes sour. Let's get into the podcast.

Welcome, buddy. Thank you. And wow. I mean, you had me blushing over there. And I want you to know you are two of the most important people. So it wasn't hard for me to make you feel that way, because it's really easy, right? I mean, aren't these guys incredible? Because I felt the same way the first time we met. I was like, man, I love these two. And we just want to do more life together. And so it was really easy. And I'm sure that's why this room is packed with raving fans of you guys. And as well as what you guys are here to do, these two are incredible. So thank you for having me. The best.

Thank you for being here. This is. This is so. It's going to be so fun. Are you ready?

Oh, yes. And I want to know what's going on with the bears on all these tables.

Oh, tell us about the bears.

Yeah. So Believability is started by Cat. Cat, raise your hand. Matter of fact, get up here. I'll come to you. I'll come to you.

So do you want me to just say the whole story? Okay.

Yes, please. I'm like. I was like, what's going on?

I'm like, everyone in this room has heard it. So I was paralyzed in a really bad accident when I was 19. Told, I'll never walk again. And I put a positive affirmation on my hospital walls in the hospital for three months. It said, my name is Kat. So it said, cat will walk out of here. Duh. I repeated this affirmation over and over. My dad was traveling for work at the time, so every time he visited me, he brought me a teddy bear. My mom pinned all these teddy bears around the positive affirmation. And then about four weeks later, I was yelling at my toes, big toe move. Big toe move. Big toe move. It moved. So my right leg or my left leg woke up first, and I ended up walking out of the hospital three months later. So fast forward 16 years later, I blended the idea of a teddy bear and an affirmation, and I started the company Believability Buddy. So he's an affirmation buddy.

Thank you for sharing that. Awesome. How cool is that? I want to buy one.

We're going to give you a bear.

I want to buy a bear. I need to. I want to support. Congratulations. That's really cool. So let's kick it off with this. In your book Relationship Capital, you discuss building valuable connections. Nobody lives that more than you. You've partnered with celebrities like I mentioned, like Drew Brees and Shaquille o'. Neal. The A lister list goes on and on and on. How did you ever get these freaking introductions to start with? Well, it starts back making friends with everybody and understanding that everybody can help you in life and everybody you can learn from. And everybody has value. Humans have a bad tendency to predetermine who we want to talk to based on what we perceive. If I show up in a Ferrari, someone wants to talk to me. If I show up in a broken down 1967 Toyota Corolla or 87, everyone's going to ignore me. And that's a mistake, because everybody is somebody's brother, sister, aunt, cousin, friend. And everybody has a lesson or something you can learn from. And so early on, I realized the power of who you know is more important than what you know. And so when I got that knowledge in my head, it became, well, okay, if I know everybody, then I win, right? And if how do I get everybody to want to talk to me? Because I'm just an average 5 foot 9 guy at the time, I had nothing special to make any of these individuals want to know who I was or get involved with me. So it was, what can I do differently? How can I stand out and make and attract humans to say, hey, I like Jeff. I want to be around him. And it is by giving them value, helping them, and not making it about yourself. And so how I got those introductions started out by making friends with a lot of different people. So I was playing in a basketball league, and Drew Brees, agent, happened to be in the league and was on the opposing team. And I make friends with everybody. So we didn't know who he was. We were just playing basketball. And then he was like, oh, yeah, I'm an agent. And I used to be a sports agent out of law school many years ago, but I didn't know him. And he said, oh, yeah, I'm an agent. I'm like, oh, yeah? Who do you represent? He said, oh, Drew Brees. I was like, oh, that's cool. Fast forward three years later, we're still friends ever bull. And then he's like, hey, Drew happened to really like, ever bull he wants to talk to you. So I met Drew's agent. I didn't ask for anything. We just became friends. And then Naturally, I got to meet Drew Shaq. We were both speaking at an event and he mentioned the word ever bull. And I went and spoke to his manager and started to build a relationship and got to Shaq Gary. We met through a mutual friend. So it just kind of navigates. But it starts by not caring who you're talking to and not saying, well, I don't know who this person is. And they have no value. For me, that's just a mistake because some of the biggest deals I've ever got were from the checkout clerk at Albertsons, which is a story in my book. It changed the trajectory of my very first company and I made a ton of money as a result of it to somebody who my mom, one of my mom's friend's sister happened to know somebody who wanted to get into the digital marketing world. And that was a multimillion dollar account for me. And I just said yes to opportunity. So it's really just about realizing that everybody in this room has value, even if you don't see what it is, and realizing that it doesn't matter in the short term what value they may or may not give. But if I do something good for you, then I made a deposit and who knows where in the world that's going to help me if ever. But it doesn't matter. I helped you. Great. And it's just about having wealth in relationships.

Okay. So that makes me think about, you must have some level of trust around, like knowing that you're going to get intros that you need or that it's already in your network. So when there's someone or something that you need, like in your business and you're like, oh, I know exactly, you know what I need, but maybe not. Who. What are some of the things that you do? Do you start asking? Do you just start putting that out? You know, putting that intention out? What does that look like?

So I use the current bank account style thinking. So I make it. I call that a withdrawal. I'm going to ask a favor. So great example. Covid March 18, 2020, shut down 28 of my own corporate stores, laid off 500 plus people. Most of them are in Southern California. This was before we knew what was going on. My business died overnight. We had a bunch of superfoods because we import and have our own product line that we had. So we started to create a new concept called Later Bowls where we put 10 of them in a box and sold them to our customers right around our stores. It really started to take off and I'm like, man, I want to get this national. I want to go on qvc. I don't know anybody at qvc. So I started to ask some of my friends, do we know anybody who's been on qvc? A friend of mine introduced me to a guy named Todd Abrams from Icon Meals. He was on QVC out of Texas. We had a nice phone call. He introduced me to a buyer at qvc. I shipped the product to qvc. I got on QVC and we were plant based product of the year and we sold eight figures on qvc. And that happened because of the network. So I made a withdrawal. I earned the right because I make enough deposits so by doing for others all the time. So that one out of 100 that I need something I feel okay to ask and people want to do it because I'm not that pesky wheel that says, hey, can you help me? Can you help me? Can you help me? Hey, this is all about me, me, me, my business, my business, my life, my life, my problems, my problems. It's deposit, deposit, help, help. How can I add value to you, to you, to you, to you, to you. And if ever I need a favor, most people are going to say yes in my circle because I don't ask a lot. Can you give some examples of these deposits? Sure. Introductions are the easiest one. We're all in business, right? So on a professional level, everyone in here wants to know somebody who can help their business. And because I have a lot of relationship capital, I can connect two people. So I just did a one example. This just happened. I just was on someone's podcast and I always say if there's ever anything I can do to help. He likes to interview athletes, so I connected him with Sean Merriman. Sean Merriman went on his show, he sent me this incredible nice gift, which I did not need, and said if there's ever anything he can do for me, he would love to. So he feels indebted to me even though he's not. So I don't know if I'm ever going to need something from him. But I have that deposit now and what did it cost me? 30 seconds of time and connecting two human beings and Sean gets to go on someone else's show. So it's really those simple little steps. Can I spend 10 minutes and maybe help someone with a business problem that they may have? Can I? I mean, I don't want to help you move a couch, but if you're a close friend or somebody, I will, you know, I don't really want to do those kind of favors all the time, so I like to do the easier ones. But information, experience pitfalls, vendors. Oh yeah, I, I know somebody who is in your sector. Maybe I can connect you guys for a consult or a call. Those kinds of things is where I'm good. But you can apply it to yourself. You know, if you're a good cook and you guys were hosting the dinner series and you were doing it not like here professionally, but at your home and you needed some chef, you know, a friend of mine, he does that in home sushi and his name is Mel John. He's awesome, by the way. If everyone, anyone needs, we need that connection noted. But stuff like this. So if I'm out in the world and I see or know of an opportunity to connect with someone who may find value or to help your business, it's really easy for me to accomplish that. So I'm just trying my best to connect people and make good things happen, knowing that it's going to help me so much more in the long run. And it sounds selfish because it is, but everything we do is selfish. So helping you is selfish. It makes me feel good and it helps my life. Can you expand on that? Because some people might hear that it might be a trigger for them. Like you're not supposed to give to get. And can you just break that down for them? Yeah. I mean, everything is selfish. And I hate to say it, like, you got to realize, even when I play with my, my kids or I do something for my daughter, it's selfish. It makes me feel good. If it didn't make me feel good, I really wouldn't want to do it. So that's okay. It's okay to be selfish because we are individuals. And so if I do for others and I give and then I get back, why is that not okay? It's like working for a company and spending you giving your time and your brain power and getting money back. I don't want money. I want goodwill. I want all of you to leave this room today. And hopefully if I help enough of you or do enough of good things, you go out into the world. And even if we never do a transaction together, just you saying something positive to validate me my business, something I'm working on, that goes a long way. Because back to your first question. Big name celebrities and athletes get approached by everybody. They choose who they work with based on your ability to execute and their belief in you. But also, are you validated by others? Because yeah, the Fact that, you know, we just did a deal with Jason Tatum for any Boston Celtics fan or basketball fan, and he's a new partner of ours, and I'm meeting with him and his team, and I was referred to him because they had spoken to Drew and Shaq and a few other people who had said nice things about me. Well, that's really easy. I don't have to sell myself now. I just show up and they don't think, is Jeff going to be this stranger that I want to do business with? Jeff was validated by someone they trust. So, you know, being in a room like this and getting the validation that you guys just gave me, I'm not here trying to say, well, my name is Jeff and this is what I do, and please trust the next five things I say instantly. I have credibility in the room because of the amazing introduction. And you guys should preempt me everywhere I go. We'll wake you up with that.

I'll follow you. It's good. Yeah, I'm fine with that.

But that kind of stuff you can't buy. That's not something you can pay for. It is a requirement of who you are and how you behave every day. And if you just lead your life by giving and it doesn't always have to be like, in your head, okay, I give, I give, I give. I get nothing. You're thinking too short term. It's a long game life in business, and you never know when those things are going to pop up. I mean, we met and I'd been hearing about you guys forever and we had never met. And so when we finally had that opportunity, I said yes, because I had been hearing about how amazing you both were from mutual friends, from contact, seeing you guys, obviously on social media. And then I got the privilege to meet them, and it validated everything I had already heard versus if we had never heard about each other, then it's like, well, who are you? And now we're doing homework and do I have the time and do I have the energy? And so really just that idea of giving. And I know it sounds so cliche and you hear it all the time, but I'm not sitting here. But for my relationships, 85 to 90% of my success and wealth has been who I know, not what I know, because I don't know that much.

So good. Okay, so you've scaled multiple eight and nine figure companies. Your concept of vertical integration, which I didn't get to be in the room for this, but Chris was like, we.

Have this one's so good. I wrote this question.

So yeah, this is Chris's question. We're a little off on our questions here. Your concept of vertical integration has been crucial to Everbowl's success. Can you tell us how this approach has given you a competitive edge and how other entrepreneurs might be able to apply it?

Yeah. So vertical integration is. It's a. It sounds very complex. It's not. It's taking your business problems and your business issues and your vendors and the things you need inside of your business and seeing what you can incorporate internally. Think about what are your repeatable business problems. So if you take Everpool, because I know my business, I can explain it. I have to import acai from Brazil. I have to do that. Every time I want to sell an acai bowl, I have to get it from Brazil because that's the only place it comes from. So I can buy it from a third party supplier who's importing it already. I can acquire a company who's doing that, or I can start my own. I'm an entrepreneur, so I start my own import company, I go to Brazil, I source it myself, I bring it in and I save money on the acai, which means I make more money selling bulls, or I can lower my price and be very price competitive. But more importantly, I vertically integrated important repeatable issue for my business. So I'm protecting my business. And the example of that was what I just kind of mentioned in March of 2020 when Covid happened. The importers couldn't import acai so some of my competitors couldn't get product. I had my own product. So I am not, I am never at the mercy of another company who may get upset with me, raise prices, etc. Number two, what did we do when we couldn't run our restaurants? We launched a direct to consumer product line because I have my own acai. So as an entrepreneur, it gave me options. And that's what you need to survive as an entrepreneur is do I have options and can I solve problems? And so by vertically integrating that component, when we did it, it was to save money. I had no idea I was ever going to launch a direct to consumer product. But then we did. In the byproduct of that, all of a sudden it continues to propel itself because doing that let us sell product nationwide. Then we got 500 franchise requests from consumers who were buying our product through qvc, but we didn't have a retail store. So then we started franchising and I'm sitting here with 400 stores today because I started an import company in 2017 to solve Acai's too expensive problem versus my competitors who just try to negotiate with their vendor for better pricing and piss off their vendor and go to another vendor and so on and so on. And so that's one example of how vertical integration can solve an immediate problem and give me an opportunity to spin it off into another eight figure business which is unevolved. Products are product line. And so you think about your business. This can apply to everybody from you know, I was speaking to a bunch of real, a real estate conference and they do a lot in real estate and so they do a lot with notary and they do a lot with home inspections. Well, you're paying the same home inspection company again and again and again to do home inspections if that is a serious part of your business. What if you have your own home inspection division and either start it or acquire it and all of a sudden some people's eyes lit up. It's like think about that. Now you have brought that in. When I had apparel and hr company recruiting was a serious problem. So I started a recruiting agency. So now I had another tool to provide to differentiate me from my competitors. I was able to offer more services and provide more solutions. And that's really what you're trying to accomplish in businesses. Can you provide solutions? And so you got to look in your own business and remember you're entrepreneurs so why does it have to stop? Or with your main core business, you know, yes, I sell. I'll say, you see, you'd say okay, you're in the food business. Not really. Right. I'm in the logistics and supply chain business because I got to get product to and from my stores. Right? I have to build stores. That's why I started a construction company because I built a lot of everbles. Why am I going to pay the retail price for construction over and over and over again and let them have to learn our business and get no economies of scale and no efficiencies When I can just spin up and start my own company to save me money building them, which by the way we have the cheapest build out costs in our industry significantly compared to our competitors. Because I build them. I don't have to make money building my own stores. I'm trying to save money. I do make money, but I save money as well and my franchisees save money. So now I have a competitive edge to sell more franchises, which means I'm going to sell more, which means I'll make more through Construction and I'll have more acai for my unevolved product business. And this wheel of vertically in a vertical integration continues to roll. And so it's looking in your business and saying what are the repeatable problems, AKA things I have to do again and again that are outside of my control for me to be a successful fill in the blank and then say what are those things that I can internally adopt by either starting or acquiring Some acquire. I start. There's no right or wrong. Google acquires. Google acquired. YouTube. You always hear about Instagram acquires, you know, Facebook acquires this brand and Instagram acquires this brand because their consumer, they want them to stay in their ecosystem. So they're acquiring the light pieces that fit in their wheel. But McDonald's is the largest toy distributor in the world. From the Happy Meals, they don't sell a single toy, but they distribute more toys because they have to. So they have that business to save themselves money. They're the largest real them or the church are the largest real estate owners in the world. Right, but they're a hamburger company. No, they're a real estate company. They sell hamburgers. Apparently right now some of them are killing people, but maybe they used to sell hamburgers. Just use it as a segue into we build. It's another great example of vertical integration. But it's also an example of how you recognize talent and start a company with people knowing who to surround yourself with. Because obviously you're not saying, oh, let's start a distribution company, let's start an import company and acting as the active CEO of all of them. You'd probably be split in too many directions. Correct me if I'm wrong. So share the story of how you started. We build how you recognize talent, etc. Sure. So I do have the title of CEO, but I have no skills whatsoever. And it's intelligent, talented, amazing people who make all these companies go, I stand on all their shoulders when I get to be on this stage. So can I ask what titles you give them then when they're doing the day to day? Well, the president is the guys running it. CEO is because I have investors and that's kind of the main job of a CEO is to handle the outward, finance the strategy and be the face for that community. Otherwise I would much rather let them be the CEO and I hang out with all you guys every day. But the next question I get asked is, well, Jeff, what do you know about construction? To your point, nothing. My wife puts together every single toy my kids ever Got I'm the least handy, handy human in this room. Same dude fixes everything. Yeah, I do nothing with tools. It's a common joke actually.

Me and your wife can build things together. It's gonna be great.

Yes. You should see when presents are there, I'm like, yeah, I'll throw the boxes out. But I don't put stuff together. I just, it's it. I just don't have the patience and the skill set and I get frustrated and I break stuff. But I have a construction company, so first ever bowl cost me three hundred plus thousand dollars to open. I was gonna self fund them all. I'm like, I'm gonna go open 50 or 100 of these. Why do I wanna spend that kind of money for a smoothie? Acai bowl shop seems ridiculous. It's also 2016, so go back when $300,000 for a, you know, today that's like a cheeseburger and fries. But back then it was a lot of money. So I was like, well, what if I start my own construction company because I'm going to go build 50 ever bulls. So who do I know who can do that? Well, there was an individual, his name was Jake and he built, was the main guy my project building my first ever bowl. So I walk up to Jake, Jake, how would you like to be the president of my new construction company called we build. You don't have to worry about job flow. We got it. You're going to make more money. You're in a position of ownership, you're going to have equity and you get to take a huge promotion. And oh by the way, his job, his resume and application was he just did it so I know he can build it. And all I need you to do is make them more efficient every single time. And we're going to think about how we can use economies of scale. What if you build two case lines instead of one at a chain at a time? What if we buy signage or create signage for four stores instead of one and we'll hold them until the next one opens. And what if you come up with better ways to do all the things you're going to be doing over and over and over again and build me a team. And he said yes. And now I have a construction company with a guy I know who can do it. And here we go. And it went from 300 to 280 to 270. Where today, in today's money my average franchisee pays, we built between 100 and $120,000 to open an Ever bowl with equipment. Now, that's meaning now it might not. If you don't, it's meaningful to us because a Jamba Juice or nectar or one of my competitors are 250 to 400 for that same amount of stuff. So now I can sell you two stores for the price of one. Right. You get a faster cash on cash return. I'm doing my job. We build has exploded to. You know, we build is going to be probably by the end of 25, bigger than ever bowl because we now do it for everyone else. But at the time, it was just to solve my own problem, and I didn't have to worry about all the other nuances of a business because I had the deal flow because it was a repeatable problem for everyone. For me, I'm going to build more of these two 80s better than 300. 250 is better than 300. 220 is better than 300. And so I was able to start to build more for less and start to get the power of doing the same thing again and again. Our team getting really good at what we were doing.

So something that I've noticed about you is that I feel like you are such a good mentor because you have, like, this quiet confidence that actually, even though you've had massive, crazy success, feels attainable. Like, do you guys know what I'm talking about? It feels like we could approach relationships how he is up here with his demeanor. It's not like you're like, oh, I'm not like that guy. Like, I could never be that, like, crazy outgoing, like, super big and loud. And with you, it's kind of like, what I want to know is to get the level of success that you have had, that means that you have had to have so many asks. Like, you have had to ask people for so many meetings, so many. You've had to pitch yourself. You've had to do all of these different things. I want people to understand, number one, how many times do you have to follow up with people? What do those initial asks for you look like? And do you still get nervous?

Okay, first, everybody can do what I do. To add to that, I am an ordinary guy. So that's important because you're right. You know, you see a Shaquille o' Neal on stage, like, I'm not seven feet tall. You listen to Elon Musk speak, and you're like, I don't have that brain. I can't do rocket ships to Mars. And all the crazy things that someone of that stature can do. So A lot of us, and I was this way as a kid. It's like you feel that you are average and ordinary, so how are you going to excel? And then you realize that you just gotta reverse engineer the extra that you have to do to get extraordinary results. And an ordinary guy like me can get extraordinary results, which means it's obtainable for everybody if you're willing to figure out what that formula is and apply. So I agree, and I think it's important. That's kind of why I don't have anything unique and different other than I will stick to the goal, I will find the formula and I will be repetitive in doing it. Now, as for all the asks, absolutely. You know, every day I ask for things and beat my head into walls and keep trying and trying. I'm trying to get everyone in an airport. It's taken me two plus years. I call every Friday to the six companies that are available to get me in these airports and I still have not achieved my goal and I am still nervous when I get the opportunity to talk to them. But it's doing it in a fun way. I mean, it's how I got into Padres Stadium with Everbowl. You know, that took me almost two years in Costco. And it was. I call it pain. It used to be pain in the ass Friday, but now it's pleasant, pleasantly persistent Friday, if you will. Yeah, but I'm a pain in the ass. I'm gonna keep calling and every Friday I'm gonna call and I'm gonna say, hey, Lori, it's Jeff from Everbowl. I was just wondering if this is the Friday you're gonna let me go in the airport and you're like, sorry, Jeff, our meeting's not till September, but you don't have to call me every Friday. And I'm gonna say, well, I know that, but I still also want to see, make sure, you know, I hope you have a good weekend. And I want to make sure you hear my voice every Friday. So when that opportunity comes, I'm here. And yes, I'm annoying, but it happens. Because eventually I wear you down. That's what's going to happen. I'm going to eventually. That's how I got Lori. Really? Yeah.

I just wanted him to go away, you know?

I'm just kidding.

No, I love it.

I mean, my wife said no to our first date. I wore her down. So, no. It just means no today. I don't know why everyone gets stuck with this. Someone said no to me, so it's no Forever. Every day is a new day. Every moment is a new moment. Today was not the day. Tomorrow might be the day. And I'll be a different person, and you'll be a different person, and the world will be a different. And it might be no for the next 400 days. What happens in 401 days? And so without someone being able to unequivocally telling me that it will not ever happen with evidence to support that, like, I will never be able to breathe underwater. Fine, I won't keep trying. But until you can prove that to me, if it means that much to me, I'm going to show you how much it means to me by being a pain in the ass until you give it to me. And that's part of the business relentlessness side that you just got to remember. Like, it's just no for today, okay? No. Well, Lori, I'll talk to you next Friday. You really don't have to. I know, but I'll speak to you next Friday. I'll leave you a voicemail. Hey, Laurie, it's Jeff. Just want to wish you hope you have a good weekend. And let you know I still can't wait to get in the airport. Like my payroll business, many years ago, when the gatekeepers, if you will, wouldn't let me meet with the people and get the opportunity to sell you payroll, I would bring them a payday bar on Fridays. I know it's payday. I can't bring you checks, so I'm going to bring you a different form. Happy Payday. Like, just cute, stupid things. But that separates you. And that doesn't take skill. That just takes desire and relentlessness and grit and being willing to take no in the face as many times as it happens. But I get to sit up here, and I've had so many more no's and yeses, but one yes changes your life, right? It's like you could buy a lottery ticket every day you win once you're a lottery winner, and that's up to you guys. And you don't have to go study and be in college for the next eight years to get a medical degree. You don't have to, you know, spend the next six years trying to learn a skill on master it. This is just being repetitive. And if you do that, even if you want a job and you're not an entrepreneur, that works too. Be pain in that ass and show how committed you are for whatever it is you want that's attractive. Who doesn't want someone with that kind of like, oh, My God. I know he really wants this. I've told him no 400 times. He's still here. Just give it to him already. Okay. And then you got to perform. We're going to give you guys a chance a little bit here. We have questions for days, but just a show of hands. Who's going to want to ask a question so I can start to get an idea of how much time? Oh, a lot. Okay, good. So here's a question that I wanted to ask you because so far, these are a bunch of success stories. Can you share an example of a relationship that didn't go as planned and how you handled it? And how do you decide when it's time to let it go? Yeah, one actually very meaningful one. My best friend and best man in my wedding. We no longer are friends, so sometimes it doesn't go. Been friends since birth. Our moms were actually friends in the hospital. We were born one day apart. We lived on the same street. Elementary school, preschool, middle school, high school. We went to the same college. We lived together. Was best man in my wedding. Gave him a job when he needed one. Things happened, right? And the thing is, some people say I don't do business with friends. I'm the opposite. I only do business with friends because I don't understand why you wouldn't do business with a friend. Businesses don't always work, just like sports don't always work. We on the same team, and we may lose. You may drop the ball, I may drop the ball. But if we both go at it with the same intention of doing what we believe is best for the business and each other, then whatever happens happens. Like we're friends for a reason. When the trust is gone, then you have a problem and we had an issue. I won't get too much in the detail, but let's just say he was dating someone in the company, probably shouldn't have, based on roles and responsibilities and things that you just don't do. I had to tell him he can't do it. It turned into kind of this weird thing. I had to fire him, and then it broke. A relationship shouldn't have broken a relationship because I had to fire other friends. And we're still friends. Firing you doesn't mean we're not friends. Firing just means this isn't the right opportunity for you in the business at this time in life. And as your friend, you should be able to look beyond that. And if you can't, then how good of a friend and what is our friendship? And it's still painful because I love him to death and I still help him. I just can't have the friendship that we used to have because the trust is broken, which is okay. It's not okay. I wish it didn't happen. But it's part of life. And loyalty is only shown when loyalty is shown. Like, you can't manufacture the opportunity to prove your loyalty to somebody or your trust until the opportunity comes. And they say, I'm willing to do what's not in my best interest because I love you that much. I'm willing to say, like, that's what it is. And so for me, if I don't have trust, the friendship or relationship has to die because I have to trust you and you have to trust me and vice versa. If you can't trust me, the relationship has to die. I don't mean, doesn't mean I'm not gonna do something to bother you or upset you and vice versa. It doesn't mean there might not be a time I don't deliver, you don't deliver. But as long as we did it with the intention of doing what's best for each other, the relationship should never end. And I like to build long term relationships and I like to expand those things. And I want to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. And I will give you more trust before you prove it to me. And I don't care in the long scheme of life, if you burn me, and I get burned more often because I get that a lot where, you know, I give and I give and I don't get. Well, that's life. So, okay, does that mean you want to quit on life or you want to keep playing? Because I play for those wins, those few relationships that change your life. Right? If you're, if any of you are married, you know what I mean? Like that spouse, how many bad dates did you ever go on? Does that mean you stop? Because you didn't find that one until you did, right? You just keep going until you do. Because that one changes everything. It's true in business and professional relationships. The right employee, the right partner can change your entire world. And I've been fortunate to have incredible people work with me that have changed my financial fortunes, have created opportunities, and have allowed my visions to come to reality when I wouldn't have been able to actually make that happen. And so I'm blessed to have that. But it's filled with a ton of mistakes along the way. The main difference is I don't spend any time dwelling on the past. And those Things like I get asked, why don't you spend more time talking about all the bad things? Well, because those are minutes and moments of life that I want to be gone. I don't want them to become tomorrow. Why do I want a bad day yesterday to carry over to today? I don't. So I do a five minute pity party, which I think I mentioned to your group last time. I literally set a timer for five minutes and I cry and I scream and I curse and I'm a victim and poor me. And the timer goes off and it's done so good. Right? Well, because you have to give it the emotion, otherwise it's going to show itself. Like at the worst time ever, like up here, I'm going to break down in tears because, you know, something happened to me that I never gave emotional time to. But why do you have to give it more than that now? Obviously, if it's a major life event, you know, unexpected passing, I mean, it's going to take more than five minutes. But the premise is still the same. And I think that in business especially, I hear this. Well, you know, I've tried to work with friends in the past and it's cost me a couple relationships. My question is, how good of a friendship did it. Did you really have. If it couldn't handle a tough conversation? Because a real friend, I could be able to tell you anything. And it should. We should be able to get past it if we really have that relationship or we have a superficial one that we're holding onto that's fragile and I'm afraid to break it with a real tough conversation. Well, I don't want those in my life. I want the real ones. I want to be able to have a serious conversation with anybody and talk about it. And if it doesn't work, you know, yeah, I lost my best friend. It's painful. I wish it didn't happen. But we're at a point in life where it's probably. And maybe we'll circle back together at some point in the future. Right? Those things will happen. But don't spend too much time dealing with and living in yesterday's mistakes. Focus on the positive. That stuff's going to happen. Life is life. We're all going to have those life moments. And so just don't carry it over to tomorrow. Get it behind you, deal with it. And now let's go positive. Let's. Let's frame tomorrow's future. So good. So good. All right, before we hand it over to you guys, do you have any more Questions you want?

I do have this one. Okay. What advice would you give on creating relationship capital with mentors when you're just starting out and you don't feel like you have much to offer in return?

Yeah, that was me for a long time. So my first mentor, some of you may know him. His name is David Meltzer. Lifelong family friends, our moms. He used to come watch me play Little League and babysit me. And I've worked and interned at all of his companies, went to law school to be a sports agent with him, at least Steinberg Sports Agency. So we're brothers. We're as close to brothers as you can be. But I had. He's, you know, 12 years older than me, 13 years older than me, and I had nothing to add when I was 14 and 15 and 16 and 17. But I went to him and said, I want to learn. I want to be you one day. I want experience. I can't provide any value, except I will be here to take out the trash and be your gopher and just be in the room and do all the things you need. So if I wanted to intern for you guys, knowing that you had an event like this and I had zero skills and I was not yet there, I would say, chris, Lori, I want to come, and I want to make sure that your guests have a remarkable experience. I'll move their luggage. I'll ensure that if someone's water spills, they'll have another one. No questions will go unanswered. I will be there to make sure that your event goes smooth. You just have to tell me what to do. And all I ask in exchange is, can I be in the room and then meet the people and say, hi, I'm Jeff. Nice to meet you. Yeah, I'm an intern. I'm just so excited to be here, and thanks for coming. And if I do that enough, I'm going to meet some people. You guys are going to say, jeff's a really cool guy, and I'm going to learn some things, and then eventually, you're going to start to mentor me. Hey, Jeff, you know, have you thought about monetizing that? Go for experience, right? Or whatever. And you guys would help me, and I would earn the right to ask you to be a mentor. But you, when you swing up, you've got to provide value both ways, right? It goes back to Deposits. What can I do for you? So what did I do for Dave? And, you know, it's funny, because I give Dave a ton of shit about this. He's Never paid me anything ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever. You know, we. We're still extremely, extremely close. And we did it. We've done some events together, co hosting, writing a book together on the mentor, mentee relationship as well. But he owed me a. He was the CEO of a company called PCE Phone, which was the world's first smartphone. And I think I was 17, 18, and I worked all summer, and the deal was, you work all summer, I'm going to get one of these phones. I never got the phone. He still owes me the phone. And I remind him all the time that he owes me a PC phone that doesn't exist. But you just do it anyway. You do. You give what you have. And what you have is you have your time, which is the most important, valuable asset we all have. And if you're willing to give your time to somebody in exchange for information, that is a fair trade. If you come full heart, right? If you come with full effort, if you show up and you do the thing and you're willing to help, because every successful person needs more people to help. Every successful company needs more people to help. And so if you want to go work at, you know, Apple and you don't. Aren't qualified for the job, can you sort the mail? Do you know how many people started in the mail room? I mean, you've heard the stories, right? I mean, the. Eric Spoelstra, the head coach of the Miami Heat, who won championships with LeBron James, started in the mail room for the Miami Heat because that was his way to get in. It's not an easy journey. It's not a fun experience. But again, back to my pleasant Friday. If you want it bad enough, are you willing to do whatever to get it? So if you want that mentor, you want that information, you want access to whatever that individual may be able to provide you, what are you willing to do to get it? Because you've got to give value, otherwise they don't need you. And it's not offense to me or to anyone else who doesn't need me. Dave didn't need me. I had to do something to make it worth his time to have a teenager with zero skills be around because there's something on his side to do that, right? And so that's what I would suggest. If you don't yet have it. No, we're all older in this room. So you're saying, well, I don't have. I have a job or I have a career, that's fine. What can you. Else can you do, because there are things that you do have skills on that every business or individual may need that you may be able to help. If you're a graphic designer and, you know, Chris, Lori, for your next dinner series, can I make some. Some graphics for you or can I help you guys work on the program? Cards, you know, etc. Can I handle logistics? You know, maybe I can help help your team reach out to the hotels and coordinate. You know, there's just things you can offer, and some might say no, but some will say yes, and then you'll have those mentor relationships. And again, it's not. It's a numbers game. They don't all say yes. I can promise you. I have spent years trying to work with some individuals, and it just doesn't happen. That's okay. You don't know about it. I do, but I move on to the next one because there's always somebody out there. Right in this room. There's Half this room would be people who I could help and could help me. And the other half, we're just not there yet. Right. It just wouldn't work. And that's okay.

Awesome. Should we get some questions?

I can be the mic runner.

All right.

Sorry about the glossy bottle. No disrespect. Okay, so here's how we ask questions. For those of you that are new, hand up. I'll come to you, and it's name and what you're grateful for. And then we ask the question with no backstory. So my question is. Finish that sentence. Jeff will do a great job at getting any backstory that's needed in order to answer a question. Sound good? All right, so who's got the first one?

Hi. I'm grateful for the concept of deposits and withdrawals, because I think that's something that, yeah, I've been thinking about a lot, is like, how we can get more deposits and take less withdrawals or.

Take them when we need them.

My question is around this vertical integration piece because I kind of feel like. And no, this isn't a backstory, but I feel like as entrepreneurs, we're often given the advice to be laser focused. So it's like you have a goal. I run a marketing agency. It's like, work on your marketing agency. Don't build out Dubsado, or don't go and try to build something out. So how do you balance that? Probably your mentors have probably told you to stay focused on something, investors, whatever. And then you're kind of building things that maybe don't connect for other people.

Yeah, so there's a little bit extra there that I think is important. The idea of staying laser focused, I don't necessarily agree with the idea. I. I have two children, so can I only focus on one or can I do I have to focus on both? I have to focus on both now. Whichever one needs more of my attention in the moment is going to get that laser focused. So a marketing agency, that's great. But part of running your marketing agency and you are the CEO, founder in charge, you have to make money and the business has to stay alive. So just because the marketing services that you're talking about is only a small percentage of running your business. So if you could vertically integrate something that's going to reduce your costs so you can increase your margins so you can stay afloat and hire another world class marketer, that's what your job is. You should be laser focused on it. Now, it may require you to build a whole new business or create a technology or something that is outside of your feel good skills today. But you can partner or hire, acquire or. Fine. Like I did with Jake in construction, I still don't know how to build anything. And we're building stuff all across America, literally as we speak, in 50 states. I don't know how to do it. You don't have to. I have to manage Jake. And all I have to do with Jake is make sure that the business stuff that I'm good at, I can do. So you need to be laser focused. But we forget. And when I ask people, oh, what do you do? You're not a marketer, you're an entrepreneur. Which means you and me do the same thing in construction, food and marketing. We still have a P and L. We got to bring in more money than we spend. We got to attract talent, we got to attract customers, we got to serve those customers. We got to handle accounting and finance. We got to market our services. Those are the same for every business. There's no business that doesn't need those things. Those are all of our jobs. So we're entrepreneurs first. We are whatever we're doing after, that's only a small part. And so laser focus is important. But I think we forget when we think laser focus on selling ass. No, I'm laser focused on building the Everbowl brand. And to do that, I got to think about all the pieces that go to building the Everbowl brand. I have franchisees. My job is to make them money. Doing construction cheaper makes them more money. Bringing in food cheaper makes them more money. So I'm working for my customer, my franchisees by doing those two things. Oh, by the way, I get to build eight, nine figure businesses for myself on the side. That's cool, that's fun. I get to talk about that. But I am laser focused on my job of building the Everbowl brand and supporting my franchisees because I'm vertically integrated. So everything I'm doing is to solve and work on my main thing. I'm not starting a hair salon on the side. That has nothing to do with the business. Okay, now you can talk to me about. You're not laser focused, you're distracted. And you know Elon Musk with rocket ships and the boring company and Tesla and X, okay, that's quite sporadic, right? But if Elon Musk with his SpaceX also then built a company to manufacture the rockets for it and he built a battery company for Tesla and well, that's vertical integration. So he's laser focused on starting and acquiring more businesses to make his main thing, which he is focused on, better, more profitable and stronger. Because if you run out of money because you don't solve some of those repeatable problems and you lose your business, you say, well, I was laser focused on selling marketing services. True, but were you laser focused on the totality of your marketing business and making sure you're profitable and winning because you got to make a bunch of money, otherwise the business will fail. So I just think laser focus, we got to look a little deeper into what we're laser focused on. We got to look.

I'm grateful to you and everyone in this room that is like so giving today. It feels like people are really embodying what you're talking about. And my question is, you know, in terms of giving in that relationship bank, I work with entrepreneurs and business owner on managing their teams. And I think the relationship with our team members, especially in some of the businesses that are more high turnover like you've done with restaurants and construction, like, how do we apply some of this to managing our team so that we can retain talent or attract the right people?

So I learned a lot. When I had a recruiting agency, I thought people switched jobs for money. I thought money was the driver of employment. I pay you more money, you'll do whatever. And it's just not true. Which was surprising because back then that's what my hypothesis was. I think people actually want to feel that they have purpose. They want to feel that they are validated and are able to inject some of themselves into the company. They want to make Money and they want opportunity. And so culture. Like we have two rules at all my companies that are the first two rules are non negotiables. It's make friends and have fun. And there's so much underneath that that it's not as cheesy as it sounds. Right. Because you don't show up late and leave your friend waiting for you. You don't show up late and leave a co worker waiting for you. Like there's all those details fall under make friends and have fun. But I have to make sure that my, my employees know that I'm building companies to give them opportunities. So if you walk in our corporate office, you're going to see some of our team members that are in their early 20s that started when they were 17 in the store and now they're doing jobs that they resume are not qualified for. But they built Everbowl with me from stores 2, 3 and 4 to where we are today. So they have domain expertise. Kind of like Jake in construction. He wasn't ready to be a president of a company, but he had built the only ever bowl in existence. So he actually had more experience than anyone else on the planet at building ever bulls. Right. And so creating that opportunity for your team to feel like if I put myself into this thing, if I inject my DNA into this company that I don't own, what do I get? Well, the deposit I'm going to give you is unlimited opportunity, the ability to take the leadership role, grow as much as you want to grow and help define the future of the company. And if you have an idea, you're going to watch it come to be. If it's, you know, assuming it is in line with what we're doing. Mistakes are great. I tell my team my job is to give you the resources. Your job is to make a lot of mistakes. But a mistake done once is fine. A mistake done twice is a choice. We don't make the same mistake twice. Because now you're choosing to make a mistake. Make a mistake, I don't care. Learn from it, don't do it again. And we're gonna get better. And that idea gives them a lot more freedom. And it's all about culture because they stay, because they're having fun. And if they leave, it's because, you know, either life opportunities, they're not having fun. I suck whatever it is, right? There's reasons you leave. And so that's what we try to do. And it's about different deposits. It's not just money, but some of the Equity holders of Everbowl today are literally in their early 20s that are running the company at the highest level with us. And you know, their resume would not have gotten them that job, but their domain expertise and their commitment and their loyalty earned them that right. And they want it. And you know, one of, one of them always tells me she wants my job and one day she's going to have it and she'll be the CEO of Everville.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Hi. I am grateful for living in a country that encourages and rewards being an entrepreneur. I think it's amazing we all get to do it every day. So.

Yeah.

With the breadth, breadth of the portfolio of businesses that you've built and continue to build. I'd love to learn a little bit about how you look at capitalization, perhaps how maybe that's changed if you were starting new today versus when you started. And maybe just any sort of insights or tidbits to anyone starting something new and getting out there and seeking capital to do that or versus using your own and at what time you pull that trigger.

Sure. I mean, capital is the requirement. Right. It's the fuel for business. Without it, businesses don't work. So first it's taking inventory of your current life. You know, I started my first company at 25 years old after I had one job out of law. After law school and sports agent, I had one job for adp, selling payroll. I got, I was the number one sales rep in the country, made a bunch of money, bought a house, fiance, daughter, the whole thing and was a lifer. I wanted to start my own company because we got into a dispute over when I would earn my next salary increase and I thought I was too big for them to mess around with and they showed me a door and I walked through it. But I sold my house, I moved into my parents house and I started my first company out of my mom's kitchen with a daughter and a fiance. So I say that because a lot of times I hear, well, I can't do it because I have a mortgage. Well, if the mortgage is more important than the business, then keep the mortgage. But if the dream that you want is bigger than the short term house or assets that you have, make a sacrifice. And now we're in a position. I say that as the precursor. Because when you want to raise money, investors look at a lot of things when they're betting. Most of them bet on the person, not the idea ideas, they're not as valuable as we all think they are. There's a Billion ideas. Execution is cherished and rewarded. Execution is everything. So if I'm talking to, to you and not you specifically, but hypothetical you, and you're like, yeah, you know, I sold my house. We did all this. I put everything into this business. I know that at two in the morning you're going to do whatever it takes, but if you're like, well, I'm living in my nice home and I've only put about five grand in this thing, I want all your money. And if it doesn't work out, that's just your money, I'm less excited because what's gonna, what's gonna happen when all the odds are stacked against us when the worst thing happens? Right? So that's just. I say that first because a lot of times entrepreneurs fail to realize that investors are vetting you just as much as your business. They build these beautiful decks and they bring them and then they're like, well, look how cool my idea is. Yeah, but I wanna know about you, right? So I had a company, J Capital, where I helped businesses raise money. I've raised hundreds of millions of dollars for businesses my own and others. And that's one of the things I always teach entrepreneurs is, remember, you need to sell you. They bet the jockey, not the horse. I don't care what business Elon Musk is starting. I want to bet on the fact that I'm sure he's probably going to make it work, right? Chris and Laurie, I know they're going to make it work. I don't care what it is. Of course I care what it is, but I'm going to learn about that. Second, I already am excited. Yes, I want to invest now. What are we investing in? So that's first. So you really got to remember, don't sell your business, sell yourself. Demonstrate why you are the best bet your creativity, your innovation, what separates you, that's what is required to attract that. And then it's attracting money. I don't raise money, I attract money because people want to invest in rocket ships. They don't want to invest in the idea of trying to create a rocket ship. So how far can you get your idea fully baked? As. As much fully baked as possible before you ask for money. And if you can get it as far along as possible, where now it's growth capital because you've already made a bunch of mistakes, you've already fallen in enough potholes, you've already paid all the dummy tax and now you're like, look, I got this, this widget and it's ready to explode. Well, let's go. Because now I get to put my money to work and watch it, and I don't have to hope that we figure out all the problems. And you probably have seen on Shark Tank, they always say, well, your business is yet ready for money. They get excited when it's like, oh, you're already almost profitable or profitable, and now you just need more money to actually put lighter fluid behind this thing. That's exciting. If you're not quite there, you're like, well, Jeff, I have no money, I'm broke, and I need to make this work. And I can't have a mom or dad who will let me move in with them. And it's just what it is. Well, then you got to raise some money. And then it's about, can you think about alternatives like crowdfunding, where it's micro investments, because that's an easier way to get your customer. You know, if I was going to do it again, I could raise from customers, which is, if you're my customer, I'll tell you what, give me some money and I'll give you the free services. And now you're going to own a piece of the business and vertically integrate us into you if it's a piece. Or let me be your payroll provider. And yes, I'm trying to raise money for my payroll business. I already have these services. I need a little bit more capital. I'll serve you. And you're going to own a piece of the business. Right. There's ways to do it in micro tranches where everyone in this room can give me $10 and I could raise $200 pretty quickly versus one of you giving me $200. It's just easier. So crowdfunding is another method. But at the same time, why are you raising money? And is it just because you think you need money? And what are you using the money for? 5 year projections are kind of funny. They want you to do it because they want to see you think about five years from now. But be honest, when I'm raising money, I do one thing that most people don't. And it's allowed me to raise a ton of money. And it works every time. I address all the negatives before you do. Look, I have this everybody thing, and it's a great idea. It's acai bowls. 9 out of 10 restaurants fail. We all know that, right? Like, it's risky. I mean, you're lighting money on fire if you invest. That's what everyone here let me tell you why it's different with everybody because we vertically integrated so we can build these things cheaper, so we spend less per build. We have our own supply chain. So we do all these things. We have this amazing culture. We have access to superstar athletes and celebrities who are going to bring attention to us. So most restaurants don't have that. Wouldn't you agree? Right. So now I've taken the objection that you are going to have for whatever it is you're raising. And I've asked, I've addressed it, and I've answered it before you did. When you do that throughout the entire process, by the end, there's no objections left. So now it's just a matter of, do I like this person? Well, yeah, you know what? They weren't afraid to talk about the real negatives to their business. They identified them, they have a solution. So I already like them as an operator. I like the person because I'm sitting here with them. And do I like the opportunity. And that'll help you raise money much faster than the traditional way, which is, let's hide the thing we don't want to talk about. But you know it's going to get brought up. And you put it at the end, I put it at the beginning. I hit it, and then I sell my business for the next 25 minutes. And it alleviates what everyone else is doing wrong. Because put yourself as the investor. If I come to you to sell you a Girl Scout cookie, but the box is open and the package is open, you're going to ask about it. So why don't I say, look, I know the box is open, but I won't lie to you. I hadn't eaten all day and I had to have one just to make sure it was good. But I promise you, look, I'll eat one now in front of you. It is quality cookies, so I'll give you a little discount. Do you want to buy this box of cookies? So good. That's what I would do.

Hey, I am grateful for the permission that you give for normal people to.

Do cool shit for what that.

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I went a little too far. You can vertically integrate everything. When you start to play that game, you're like, well wait, I brush my teeth every day. Why don't I have my own toothbrush company? There's a limit, right? You want to play a little bit of okay, what is the benefit of this? So with Everbowl, I started my own distribution company locally. I bought my own warehouse. I got a warehouse with big freezers and fridges. I got all the fresh fruit. I put it there. I have my own trucks. We were driving them to my 18 stores in San Diego at the time. Bad business. Had I asked for advice from anybody in this space, they would have said, well, you need at least 200 to make this thing work. So I was lighting money on fire and I spent a ton of money to try it. So I went a little too far, a little too fast and I didn't take that moment and say okay, let's think about this. So that was less a huge expensive lesson with the multiple companies. But then number two it's how do you ensure that you don't get distracted, that you don't take your eye off the ball? Because I got asked for, we built construction opportunities for years and I used to say no. Had I said yes early on, ever wouldn't have my attention and focus. Today I can do it because ever goes pretty well built out with an amazing team. So I'm not as required. So that's the other lesson which is as you start to do it, how much of you is going to be required if it's going to require too much of you? Does that now take that laser focus away from your main business? It's meant to support your main business or become the new main business, but not be completely different. And if it's going to require too much of you, then you got to ask yourself, can my main thing or other thing afford to lose that amount of me? And if the answer is yes, then I would think a little longer and see if you can't find someone else or another resource to help. So that's the other.

I am so grateful for the wealth of knowledge that is in this room that we have access to and for you. Thank you so much. Jeff. This is more of a personal question. So talking about vertical integration for business. But you seem to be doing it all. You have a family, you have a million businesses, you have it all figured out in that arena or so it seems, right? We don't know what's behind the glass door. How are you vertically integrating yourself to be able to do all of this?

Well, first off, thank you for thinking that I don't have it all figured out. And like everybody, I'm a duck. Calm above the surface and my little legs are flying a million miles an hour underneath the surface. That's just life, right? There are times where I it feels like I got this figured out and then I get sucker punched. But what I do is I hold myself accountable to the same standard. So I have, I believe everything's a formula. So I have a success formula. I have five steps to it. They're non negotiables for me. It's how I live my life. It's how I do everything. Number one is make friends and have fun. Number two is take immediate decisive action. Number three is Kaizen. I aim for 1% better every day and I set daily micro goals in all things so it doesn't matter what it is. If it's helping my, my daughter with her math homework and I got to learn relearn how to do, you know, seventh grade algebra, I'm going to spend 20 minutes, I'm going to do it, but I'm going to get a little bit better, right? Number four is the idea of remarkability. I think we strive for perfection and that's a mistake. You're never going to be perfect. Remarkable simply means that I give 100% of my best effort in whatever I'm doing right now. The answer is yes, I'm remarkable. And sometimes I'll be perfect and sometimes I won't. But I'm here with you guys. I'm not thinking about 14 other things. My phone is on do not disturb, so I'm not even getting the buzz in my pocket. So I'm trying to be my best that I can be regardless of how good or bad it is. And then number five is change ready. I'm willing to change my life or my decisions or my business when the world says it's time. And I'm not going to be so stuck in my ways that that's not how I do things. You know, I was a. I was a young adult when the Internet came. And I remember some of the legacy retail locations. Oh yeah, Internet's not for us. They're extinct, right? And so it's about being able to change. And you go change is scary. What do I do? Make friends and have fun. Who do I know who can help me take immediate, decisive action? Kaizen my way to, you know, proficiency and then hopefully advance an expert level and strive for remarkability and change when I have to. And like AI is a great time right now where business owners aren't sure what to do with AI. And I get. Well, I don't think about AI. Well, who do you know who may know about AI? So make friends and have some fun in the AI world. Make some friends and learn something. Take immediate action. What can you do today to start to learn about AI Kaizen? Set a goal. I'm going to read one paragraph of one thing on on AI tomorrow and strive for remarkable. Actually pay attention to what you're reading. Like, don't be like, oh, watching TV while you're kind of looking at it. Do that and do that every day. And over time you just win. So I do that personally, right? For my health. I try to do that with my relationships with my kids and my wife and my businesses and my co workers. And I do that in business. And like I said, sometimes it's going really well. And sometimes it's, today wasn't the best day, but it just happens, right. I just. I might come across that way. And I don't want this to be an Instagram picture. It's not. Right. It's not as smooth sailing and easy as it may appear. Like I said, it's a duck. I work really hard. I do all the things. There are days that I feel like I'm winning. There are days that I feel like, gosh, nothing's going my way. Weeks, sometimes seasons. But that happens to everybody. And you just got to accept that that's part of the process. Don't let it derail you, but have a formula that you'll follow, because then success is a matter of when, not if. I don't need to be amazing. If today, right. The goal is I want to be in shape tomorrow. Okay, well, that's fine if you're in shape. If you're not, you got to give yourself the amount of time necessary to get there. I'm not a millionaire today. Well, I want to be. Well, okay, if you're making minimum wage and you want to be a millionaire today, it's not going to happen today. But are you doing the steps necessary to create the you that is capable of acquiring that kind of capital and doing the steps necessary to earn that kind of money? And I'll tell you what, it's a matter of when, not if, you become a millionaire. So that applies to everything. It's just, we get impatient and we then get discouraged and we. We break because we don't see results. And so when you set daily goals for everything and they don't have to be written down in all formula in a journal, you can. I don't. But I set little simple goals. Like, I want to build a habit of working out. Can I put on gym clothes today and watch tv? Sure. Tomorrow, can I put on gym clothes, watch TV, and walk to the mailbox? Sure. The next day, can I put on gym clothes and go to the grocery store? Sure. Next day, can I go to the gym for one minute? Maybe I stay longer, but one minute is my goal. Yes. If I keep doing that over the next month, I built the habit of always putting on my gym clothes. I put the habit on making sure that that's one step further. Eventually, I'm working out for an hour a day. Plus, I'm eating better. Right. So, like diets, I laugh because January 1st is coming. You know, I'm paleo only or meat only, or vegetables only. Or fruit only or, okay, what if just instead of eating M and Ms. In the entire bag, eat half the bag, tomorrow eat a quarter of the bag, then don't eat the M and Ms. And over time, we're going to stop making ourselves feel like we have to give up everything to get the results. It's just going to happen in very small doses, which is allows us to build consistency and get there. And then in 10 years, I'll be sitting here and we'll be having this conversation and I'll be 10 years further. But I have achieved real meaningful results in everything that I'm trying. Instead of the yo yo of, well, I just can't seem to get my breaks. I'm getting a break every day because I'm winning every day. So I'm confident in what I'm doing. I only had half a bag M and Ms. Today I did that. Tomorrow it was a quarter, I did that. But I didn't feel like, oh my gosh, I haven't had something with sugar in two weeks and I'm dying because I restricted myself from everything I love for this goal. It's just we got to build that slowly in your body and your brain and your habits will follow. And that's the biggest lesson. Like, I can't stress it enough that success is truly a byproduct of consistency. That's really where it comes. Like what you do every single day and all the time and how you do it will dictate your outcome. And I'm a sports guy, so I would share, if it's okay, one of my favorite Kobe Bryant stories. He passed away, but he was a guy I really looked up to. And it was the fact that somebody would watched him before the game what his routine was, and it was a fellow athlete player. And after the game they went up to him and said, kobe, you're the best player in the world. Why did you spend 45 minutes doing the basics, that steps that they teach children? And he said, why do you think I'm the best player in the world? Because he was doing the basics over and over and over again, not worrying about trying to do 360 dunks, which look really cool, but what if you just focus on dribbling the basketball every day and get a little bit better? Eventually you're the best in the world and it's easy to win against so much more talented people. You know, luckily I say this that I've been doing it long enough and I feel good about my ability to succeed. But if everybody did this, I would be average because I'm an ordinary guy. So the talent loses to guys like me all the time because I'm willing to do what the talent won't do. And a lot of you are way more talented than me. So if you guys do this too, then I look forward to watching you guys and learning from you and observing what talent does with the same work ethic and stuff and strategy eventually. How's it going? We're super grateful to be here and be around such cool entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs and such good questions and ideas. My question for you is you're clearly a genius ideator and leader of lots of companies. I'm super big on the idea of vertical integration, but feel like I've been struggling to find the operator seat in the various companies and ventures. Do you have any tips on how you've been able to find so many assumably successful operators for your ideas? Well, I guess I would have to ask you a little bit more before I can answer. Sorry. You say an operator, so do you mean the person who's going to run it or someone who's going to run your plan? Since I guess a little bit of both. But being the operator of taking the idea into conceptualization and then being able to turn it into what you are dreaming of. So when I hire a leadership position, I make it very clear if I have to tell you how to do the job, that's you're not the right person. I want to go from here to Hawaii. I want to go by boat. That's my job. I hire you to be the captain. You decide our route. You're going to look at the charts, the weather, the path, the best way to get there. I'm going to trust you and I'm here to support you. And I think we too often try to hire leaders and then micromanage them on how they want to lead. That's not a leader. And you're not going to attract the person that you think. That's going to be incredible. You're going to attract someone who needs paint by number directions. A true leader is not going to be okay being told how to lead. You don't hire, you know, Michael Jordan and then tell him how to play basketball. You bring him in and his coach says, this is the strategy and go be Michael Jordan. Yeah. So you need to create that by telling your leaders and looking for individuals that are leaders and say, I am betting on you. That's my bet. Here's the vision. Do you believe in the vision? Do you think we can get to Hawaii. Amazing. Put together your own plan based on the resources that we have. Let me know if you need additional resources. How are we going to get to Hawaii? The most efficient, effective way while staying true to who we are. And that's up to you. And if you do that, you're going to attract actual leaders. And then you get to stand on their shoulders and watch how amazing they are, because they're amazing. And the reason that they're going to work for you or with you is, is because they're not entrepreneurs all the time. A lot of them don't want that. They want to be a leader. They want to be amazing. But they're not going to own the team. They want to be on the team. And you get to. And the benefit of that is now they inject their DNA into the company. And now their talk track, when they're talking personally goes from, oh, yeah, they to we, we're going to Hawaii. Not oh, yeah, my company's going to Hawaii. No, when they're the leader and they get to decide, we're going to Hawaii and I get to take us there. And they're lit up and they're inspired and they're happy and they're going to work harder than you could ever imagine. And they're not going to leave because it's their vision. And then you give them all the. All the. All the reward and all of the credit and you talk about how amazing they are, and that is going to allow them to stay with you forever, grow and bring your company to levels that you can't even imagine, because there's always more talented, brilliant people at everything. And so it's like, you know, Jake stayed with me for five years, and then he had an opportunity with his best friend for a music company, and it was a smart thing for him to do. And the guy who took over worked under Jake, and we're growing, right? He's not there with me if I'm like, well, Jake, this is how you're going to do it. Well, now, I mean, you just. Then you just need. You don't need leadership. You just need individual employees. So I would just tell you, like, create an environment to attract the leader and put it out there as a leader and challenge them, even in the interview process and say, I'm looking for someone to run the company. When you show up to the interview, I want you to come with a strategy. And here's the goals. We're going from San Diego to Hawaii or Orange county to Hawaii. How are we going to get there and do it with the resources, and then you're going to really find those operators that will allow you to vertically integrate. Cool. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. All right, guys, give them a round of applause. Jeff, before I go, could I say one thing? Yeah. I didn't get to say what I was grateful for, and since you guys all got to do that, I just want to say that I'm grateful for all of you guys for going into a room like this and investing both your time, energy, and money to be in these rooms, obviously with Chris and Lori, but just with each other. Because I'm about making friends and having fun and growing together, and this kind of investment in yourselves is where it all happens, and not enough people do it. And so I'm grateful to have the privilege to come and meet a lot of you and be here and to have wonderful friends that invited me. So thank you, guys. Jeff Fenster, everybody. Jeff Fenster, love and appreciate you, buddy.