I couldn't fix my business... What I never shared

Tonight, I hope there's no sympathy criers. Cause I'm gonna cry.

I just want to get to this keynote. Dude.

This is the hardest one. It was.

It was an answer to prayer.

It was at my lowest moment. I could not turn this thing around.

We are in a very low low. And so I will get the brunt of debt. And I deserve all that frustration trying to just tonight, figuring out the budget, but then also figuring out, like, what's the path here? How are we getting back on track? How do we actually tell the story to users and win their trust back, Throw money at this thing? We need to fix this no matter what.

I don't know.

I don't really know about half of it because Liz and the team are taking care of it. This is the first year I'm not as involved in all that stuff. But they've been very clear, like, don't focus on that. So. So I'm not focusing on. So I don't have the head piece in this year because, like, I don't even hear the chatter this year because, like, you guys are all handling it, which is like, I said to them last night. And the team meeting is like, everyone will give me the credit for this weekend, but, like, it has nothing. Like, I'm not. I'm just literally being on stage. So I've just been like, that's what I need to do. And, like, that's all I focused on for six months. And, you know, like, it's all.

Everyone always says. Like, you know, only focus on things you can control. And so by John Taffer dropping out, I can't control that. But what I can control is, like, the level of effort that goes into his replacement.

You don't want to disappoint people because, like, they're expecting, you know, this incredible TV star that everyone knows, like, you know, a celebrity. And then it's like, I've got to fill those shoes. So what it kind of did for me was, like, I tried to. First off, we couldn't get anyone else because I tried, like, lots of other big names. Marcus Lemonis, Dan Martell. We're just trying. Everyone. I try to get my coach, Dr. Kashi, here. Like, we were talking, like, less than 48 hours. So I asked myself, okay, basically, like, what makes me different than anyone else that could talk on stage? And there's only really one difference, and that is, like, I see a ton of locations, and I know what it's like to run a location absentee. And with general managers, it's like, I'M just gonna give everything I know.

This morning went good.

It's a nice kind of warm up for public conference. It's also because an easier crowd cuz it got the lawn care so so you know everyone loves you at least so tonight I gotta face the music because of what happened last year and those people are a little less freaking.

Like which is fine. Which is fine. You deserve it.

I. I messed up well cause all the mess ups are copilot and like it was my fault. So the first keynote's gonna be like yeah, emotional because yeah it's just gonna be last year was brutal and I affected their businesses poorly and all the content we make, we try to help their business. Well then I create a software and a product that hurt a lot of them in early 2024 and so it's kind of an apology but it's also just like here's what happened and here's behind the scenes of what really was going on. Push notifications broke, iOS broke, Android broke.

The native version of the app broken.

In app alerts that's broken.

Literally every single piece of the software. Absolute joke.

I don't want to share this. That's why I just want to get through this one keynote. I just need to get to this one. Then there are some more technical. I can talk about compensation models and marketing all day. Economics, let's go. Even philosophy I'd be okay with, but this one's tough. First off, because I'm sharing personal videos that I made that I didn't think I was going to share with everyone. Took the family on a vacation, the entire extended family, all the nieces and nephews.

I worked for the vast majority of the day and night.

In the moment when you make the video, you're just doing it to document it. This is the first time I've gone through like, so partly going through hell this past year. I knew that we would come out of it and I knew that I would want it documented. So I did, I made videos. But in the moment, you're not thrilled about it. You'll see. Like even when I show the video, like I just turn it off sometimes just like, oh this is so stupid. But I also wish I would have had more videos back when I was sleeping in the closet. I wish I would have had more, more videos of me working on the field for 12 hours and then going to school for four hours and then getting up a few hours later to do it again. Like I wish I had that documented. And everyone says that like Alex says the Same thing. So, like, when I was going through hell, I'm like, I'm gonna document it. So, like, I'll show those videos tonight. And like, hopefully the goal in doing that is not I feel people feel bad for me. It's none of that is a matter of they have felt that same way, and they are not alone. And if they have any respect for me in the fact that they travel across the country to be here to listen to what I'm talking about, I would hope that they also realize that even I went through those same things this year.

Yeah. So right now.

Every day I want to quit.

Every single day, I have my head, I open my head in my hands and just say, this hurts.

Because something new will break. The servers will break, something will break. And every single day, I will disappoint the people that I love the most. Not 10 years ago, not five years ago, not 20 years ago. Like this year, it happened. And they're live, seeing a turnaround. And so that turnaround story was never told. And I'm sharing with them because every single one is going through a turnaround themselves.

The person you're looking on the stage is in the process of a turnaround. The person sitting next to you is in the process of a turnaround. The person sitting behind you and beside you and the people you'll eat your food with this weekend are in the midst of a turnaround. And it's an untold story.

It's just not on video. It's the untold turnaround, the untold turnaround of yourself, your personal health, your relationship.

Your spiritual walk. Like, people are going through turnarounds, but there's not a camera and there's not microphones picking it up all the time.

And for some, the turnaround isn't necessarily even inside their business.

Some need to have a personal turnaround. Some people need to have a spiritual turnaround. Some people need to wake up and realize that they're not going to see their family if they continue the way they are with health.

What will your turnaround story be today? I've tried to share the low moments that I had, and it wasn't easy to record those moments. And some of them I could not share.

However.

That'S my untold story.

You probably won't record pieces and parts of it. You probably won't be able to document it. But I want to know, what's the untold turnaround story you'll tell one day?

Because some people need to exercise, they need to eat better. You want to be able hold your grandkids. Do you want to live a longer life? You want to be there for your family, for your spouse? You're going to have to do a turnaround. You're going to have to hit rock bottom. You're going to have to actually ask someone else for help. And this is why I admire the people that reach out in the turnaround show and just ask for help, because they realize they need support. They need someone else from when they're down in that pit to reach down and pick them back up and give them the support they need.

What will your turnaround story be? I respect a person that can admit failure, that can realize they're in a low moment and reach out for help and then do something about it. No, like, the part that's not told.

In the keynote is that after all of that pain in 2024, the part that's not shared in the keynote is that that's when she came into my life. And so, like, the part that I will probably get emotional about, but not talk about to the public is the fact that, like, you know, it helped. Like.

Oh, today we are family because.

We have a multifaceted relationship.

So I wanted to introduce you to my fiance.

I just wanted to introduce you.

That's it. She's awesome. So you might have seen her registration, and she's a big part of my life.

Obviously, you all are a big part of my life. I just wanted to say thank you to all of you.

As my family, and I care a lot about you.

She knows a lot of your names.

You wish you never seen you, because I talked about you guys a lot, and I love you tremendously. I appreciate everything you've done for me, my family, and for supporting everything we're doing at Augusta Nation. This past year was completely hard. And I'll talk a little about this evening. I will probably cry again.

But the support from Augusta Nation kept going, and so I appreciate it tremendously, and together, Brian and I will try to serve you better. And so thank you all very much.