5 Things I Learned From Spending 11 Hours With A $115 Million CEO

What's going on, beautiful people? I just got back from Funnel Hacking Live last week, and I want to share a couple beautiful lessons, actually 5 beautiful lessons from this guy on the screen. And if you don't know who he is, his name's Tanner Chidester. He's about 115 times the entrepreneur that I am with, like, just statistics, right? He's done $115 million in sales. I've only done a million. So he's quite literally 115 times the entrepreneur that I am. Whether you like him or not, he's a little bro marketing sometimes, I find for sure. I mean, look at him, he's very bro. But he's actually, he's surprisingly down to earth, and he was really, really great to meet at the Funnel Hacking event. And myself and my client success manager, Mika, we ended up spending quite a bit of time with him at the event. We spent 11 hours with him on 2 separate days at some, some breakfast clubs in his hotel suite with a bunch of other entrepreneurs, most of them doing between $1 million a month and about— or not $1 million a month, $1 million a year trying to get to $10 million. And we also ended up going out to lunch with him and his team and just overall, like, you know, hanging out for a good 2 days at Funnel Hacking. Live. And so anyways, long story short, um, there were quite a few things I picked up from spending that time with him, but there are 5 things that I want to share with you. And hopefully I don't have too crazy of background noise here because I am on my walking pad. I got a walking pad, which I'm actually quite excited about. So hopefully the background noise isn't too bad. But anyways, we digress. So I actually wish that I didn't have to present this on like a Miro thing with a tiny little screen in the side. But Loom, which is what I record my videos on, um, for whatever reason is, uh, not cooperating today. And it, and it unsyncs the video, um, when I do it that way, like it, the audio and the video unsyncs. So I'm doing it, I'm doing it this way. So anyways, um, now that being said, uh, here are, and I'm, can I move my face out of the way here? Let me just keep scrolling down. So here's the things I want to talk about. So what I'm going to talk about in this video, these are the 5 lessons. They're a little cryptic because I'm trying to get you to stick around to the end, you know, for no good reason. I just guess, I guess so you get the value. And so I can tell you to book a call with me, obviously, which, by the way, if you are thinking about working with me, actually screw that. If you know you want to work with me and you know you want to scale your coaching business to $10K, $20K, $30K, $40K, $50K a month and beyond, Click the link below this video to book in a time to chat. Okay, so first things first, the worst goal setting mistake you can make. Okay, we're going to talk about that. We're going to talk about the number one character trait you need to be successful. Um, the fastest way to level up without effort. This is a ninja hack. Um, the reason most people aren't happy, uh, and how you can avoid that trap basically. And, uh, the number one skill preventing me, um, from going from a million to 10 million. And yeah, potentially preventing you from getting there. So let's rock and roll. The first one is the worst goal setting mistake you can make. So one big thing that I picked up from Tanner, just hearing him speak, and it almost gave me goosebumps when I was hearing him speak about this because it's just like, it just resonates with me so fucking deeply, is like, the goal is not the goal. And I feel like, I feel like the goats know this. Like the goal was never the goal. The goal is just an aiming point. The goal is who you become in the process. Like that is the gift. And if you are, I don't know, convincing yourself somehow that the goal is going to be good, it is going to be that amazing thing when you get to the top of the mountain, like it's probably not. Like the actual gold of the whole thing is who you become in the process, right? We just a couple of months ago, we hit our first $100K month. Amazing, right? You know, that's cool, but it's just a number in my Stripe account. Like, it actually doesn't really matter, but it's just like everything that I went through to get there, that is the fucking prize. And I feel like there is a reason that people like You know, Alex Hormozi, he calls his podcast The Game, right? 'Cause it's like you enjoy playing it. It's a game that doesn't ever end. It's infinite, right? It's why I call my podcast The Climb. I'm not under some fucking delusion that getting to the top of this mountain is gonna satisfy me. I know I'm gonna get to the top of the mountain and I'm just gonna wanna, oh look, there's another mountain, right? Like it never goddamn ends. And so I would just say the, worst goal setting you can— mistake you can make is to set a goal thinking that it's about the goal. It's not about the goal. It's about who you become in the process. And I think one of the best things that I ever did— this is back in 2018, like from reading Think and Grow Rich. One of the best things I ever did was I set a goal that was so big that I like— it was on such a long time horizon. Like back then I set this goal to I think it was to have a net worth of $10 million in 10 years, which that was in 2018. So I have 3 years left. I'm only a tenth of the way there. So I'm working on it. But anyways, I set that goal. That goal was so big that it was like, it was obvious that the person I was at that time and the person it would've taken to achieve that were not the same person. And that was the fucking point. Right. And the other thing was that it was on such a long time horizon. It was 10 years that I had enough time to grow into that person and I could fail on so much stuff. But that didn't matter because the— like, it's not like the time horizon was so short. It was long enough that I could fail on a million things and still get there, which really is probably required if you want to, you know, become a different version of yourself. And so anyways, I hope that that is helpful. But yeah, you know, that's probably the worst goal setting mistake that you can make. And so please, God, set a goal with a long enough time horizon and with the intention of becoming a different version of yourself, because that is the most fulfilling thing that I have ever found about any of this. So anyways, that's number 1. The number 1 character trait you need to be successful. So while we were at that event, Tanner ended up telling this story, which I really loved, but he ended up telling this story about how when he was very first starting his coaching business, He like this, like when he was first starting it, he invested in 6 different programs in 6 months. I think he spent like $60 grand-ish on these programs, but it was 6 programs in 6 months. And it's not that one of like these programs were only a month long. They were all longer term programs. It's just like he got into the program and executed like a crazy person in the, you know, for the, like, the first month because he knew, like, there's two things that could go wrong if something's not working. It's either the strategy or it's the execution. And so he didn't want it to be the execution. He was like, I'm going to execute the eff out of this. But if I do that and it still doesn't work and nothing's moving in 30 days, he's like, I know this isn't it and the strategy doesn't work and I have to move on. And he would just cut his loss, spent $10,000 only a month in, and he would just like wash his hands of it and go find another program. Right. And he did this not once, not twice, but 6 fucking times until things started to click. And that really resonated with me. But it just goes to show you, like, how freaking resilient you have to be if you're going to, like, you know, run a business like this, right? Like, shit's just going to happen, you know? Your ad account could get shut down. God, so much stuff. Like, we run ads, right? So there's lots of stuff that goes on with ads. Meta makes a change, your ad account gets shut down. You know, you know, this person that you hired doesn't work. Somebody else leaves without notice. Like, there's a million things that could go wrong. And honestly, for me, in the last 2 months, a lot of stuff has gone wrong, right? And also a lot of stuff has gone right, but a lot of stuff has gone wrong. And it's just like, you have to be resilient. And if you are not willing to get knocked down and just pop right back up, this isn't the game for you, straight up. And I think this is why You know, I was listening to this podcast last night with Leila Hormozi. She was interviewing this ButcherBox guy and I forget his name, but anyways, he, I think they've done like $600 million in sales or something crazy. He bootstrapped it. Anyways, he's like, I think everyone should come out of high school and do like door-to-door sales because it's like you just get rejected so much and you have to just learn to bounce back, bounce back, bounce back. And he's like, it's just, it's like so helpful for business because you just, you learn how to be resilient. And so that's one thing that I learned from, from Tanner's story was just like, God, that's so important. So hopefully you can cultivate that more in your life. And if you are getting knocked down and you are having a hard time, be like, hey, this isn't— this doesn't suck. This is an opportunity, right? An opportunity. It's a gift from the universe for you to cultivate the character trait of being fucking resilient. Okay. Third thing, the fastest way to level up without effort. I leveled up without effort by just simply being in that room. Like, I was absolutely in my happy place. I loved it. I was like, you know, at one point it was 10 AM and I was like, I looked, I turned to Mika and I was like, oh shit, we have to get out of here. I have a mastermind call to run and I have a coaching call after that, but I'm like so I'm fucking sad that I have to leave this room. There was 30 of us in there. Most people, I think, already like, you know, we're doing a million, trying to go to 10. Obviously Tanner was, you know, running the Q&A and, um, just the level of questions that are being asked, like just by sitting in the room, my standards just raised. I was just like, wow, what I'm doing right now is child's play. Literally like child's play. Like, You know, like, what am I even doing, right? Like, it was just, I don't know, just being in that room raised my standards enough, and we've already made some changes, doubled our ad spend, you know, this, that, the other thing. And I can just say that, I don't know, I'm always in some sort of a program. I think I'm in like 3 right now, and just like the level of people that you surround yourself with, it just shows you what's possible, and humans just naturally, like subconsciously, want to fit in, even though I'm totally a black sheep sometimes and I actually hate the concept of wanting to fit in, but like, I am still human and I don't know, just like seeing what's possible, I can't really explain it, but it's like, get yourself into those rooms somehow, you know? That's just all I can say. Like, you know that saying like, What is it? You're the average of the 5 people you hang out with the most. I mean, that's true. And then also something I've picked up from Hormozy recently is like, you're like, what am I trying to say here? What did he say? It was something along the lines of something about like, it's actually who you compare yourself to. And when you're in a room like that, you like, I don't compare myself now to coaches doing $100K per month. I don't give a fuck. I'm like, all right, we already got that, right? But it's like, now I'm like, okay, well, I'm comparing myself to Tanner who's doing $2 million a month. And that just, it just changes how you operate. And so all I can really say is just get into the rooms. I think every time I've had a big level up in my business, like anytime I've had a double or a 4x or something, it's probably because I just changed the people that I was surrounding myself with. So that's that. The fourth thing, the reason most people aren't happy, just real quick on this. I forget exactly the language that he used to describe this, but when he said this, I was like, wow, that's totally me. And I just, it just really resonated and it's been helpful for me. But like, I know a lot of people are like, don't work too hard and rest and this thing and that thing. And like, you know what? That's not my MO. And the days that I am the happiest are the days that like I've fucking spent myself. Like the days that I can think that I'm the absolute happiest is like, I think back to times when I was running masterclass launches And, you know, I got up at 4 AM to like, you know, re-prep the masterclass slides and rehearse things even though I had done it a million times and present this masterclass and do the follow-up and blah, blah, blah. And then it's like 8 PM after a full day of doing nothing but marketing. And then like, you know, going to sleep, like reading a Russell Brunson marketing book on the floor or like, like, you know what I mean? Like on the floor of my room. Right. And I have pictures of this and like, they make me really happy to go back and look at them, right? It just reminds me of that stuff. Or even just like, I can think of the last couple months, like even that month doing, you know, 100K in a month. And there were some days that were really busy and it would be like 9:30 and I would get off later than I wanted to get off and then I'd be like, fuck it, I'm just gonna go for a drive and wash this whole day down by listening to a Hormozy podcast. Like, I don't know, I just love those days. So to bring that point together, it's just like Tanner kind of was bringing up like, The reason most people aren't happy is because they're not doing things that are pushing them to grow. They're not doing anything fucking meaningful, right? They're not actually trying. They're not actually doing something hard. And I agree with that. And I think the days that I'm the happiest are the days that I've done stuff like that. And I've pushed myself. I've spent myself. And I did the hard things. So take it for what it is. And then the last thing The fifth thing is the number one skill preventing me from going from a million to 10 million. Yeah, I mean, basically he kind of said it was two things, which it is. He's like spending more on ads and team. And Leila Hormozi said the same thing in a podcast recently. It's just like the ultimate skill is having the skill of being higher, being able to find and hire and like you know, like get people to do anything that you want them to do. Because if you have no skills but you only have the skill of hiring, you can get every skill that you fucking need. And one thing that I— I probably the biggest thing I tangibly picked up from that whole conversation was like $1 million to $10 million, getting the ad spend as high as you can and team. And I have a mantra that I repeat to myself, which is like, the faster I fuck it up, the faster I figure it out. And so knowing that this is the deficit that I have, Like, yes, I've hired team members and I have team members. We have a team of 3 or 4, whatever. But like, I need to be better and it's probably my biggest deficit right now. And I don't know, that's fun. That's exciting. And so I don't know. I hope this was helpful. These are the biggest lessons for me. I'm talking really fast right now in this video because I actually have to be in a call right fucking now with one of my mentors. So I hope this is helpful. Hope you learned something. Lots of love. Catch you in the next video. Bye.