Randy Garn on Integrity In Business: Earn RELATIONSHIP CAPITAL
A recorded interview with Randy Garn (May 2023) covering his personal grounding in nature (fly fishing, triathlons), public-facing work as a speaker/author, and his approach to business and partnerships. Garn emphasizes servant leadership, integrity, and relationship capital (prefers working with close friends and trusted people), offers a partner-evaluation heuristic (principles² over ego/economic-interest²), and links prosperity to a balance of money, happiness, and sustainability (referenced his book Prosper). He also comments on market uncertainty (post-Silicon Valley Bank context), recommends being selective about capital and advisors, and shares a costly past deal (public/ reverse merger bought back) as a learning experience. Contact: randygarn.com.
When I speak, it's to drive. I mean, I want to lift mankind. I want to change people's minds. Be like, I can do more. I can be more.
All right, people, welcome back to the show. Today we got with us Mr. Randy Garn. Randy, welcome to the show.
Bridger, bro, so good to be with you, man.
It's gonna be very fun. You came and spoke at our event, what, two years ago?
Yeah.
One of the best speakers we've had. And it's incredible to see your. Your career in private equity and markets as well. That's why I want to have you come on to fund launch, but also your career. We talked about with people and how you work with people. You're a best selling author, New York Times best selling author, high performance. Like, you've partnered with Brendan Bouchard. All these incredible people around the world, and it's just cool to see your stuff. But I want to kick this whole show off. I want to talk about fly fishing first.
Okay.
And nature. You constantly post about fly fishing. You're fishing, you're in the woods, you're on horses. Like, walk me through why, first off, why that and what draws you to that kind of stuff?
You know, I think for me, it's ensuring that I'm grounded and you can have all the success in the world. And you and I both know tons of people that have a lot of money, but they're not as happy as they could be. I literally, I try to just keep joy in my heart. I try to live in a beautiful state, as Tony Robbins says. And for me, being in nature, I literally try to get outside every day. Whether that's like a freaking killer run in the morning or it's a hike or on weekends, you know, I'll need to just go clear my mind so that I can think clearly. I don't think people take enough time to put away their phone and to put everything away and just literally have nothing going on. It's my state of meditation is nature now. Tell you, my best ideas ever have come from when I was actually hiking or fishing or running or doing a triathlon. Like, that is when my best thoughts and thinking come. I got to be in motion. And so that's why. That's why I'm out there.
That's cool. We saw each other at a triathlon.
Yeah.
What was that one? Actually, we did Utah. The Echo Lake.
Yes, the Echo Lake.
The second triathlon I've ever ran in my life. I did, like the sprint. The little one.
Yeah.
And you had ran like, the bigger one or whatever.
Yeah, I did the Olympic.
Yeah. I about collapsed at the end. And you were just like, this is amazing. I'm training for my next. You like an Ironman? I think you did, right?
Yeah.
Which is amazing. Funny enough, I listened to a guy. I was on Instagram, he's talking about this, and he said, you know, we talked about going out in nature, and a lot of us think we go outside a lot, and we don't. Like, for instance, today I got in my car. I think I'm outside, but I'm really in a car with a windshield. I get to work, I walked 30 steps from my car to inside. And I've been inside the whole day, but I look out windows and I look out windshields, but I'm actually not outside. And we actually spend a very little percent of our time. Most people, even though they think they're outside, they're really not. That's pretty interesting.
Well, I try to. I mean, honestly, Bridger, I. I take people out fly fishing that. I mean, some of the world leaders I've taken out, I. I love that because I love that. Teaching people a new skill and a new trick. I mean, a really fun mentor of mine said, like, you know, millionaires, golf, you know, billionaires, fly fish or whatever. I'm just like, dude, I'm just a millionaire.
That's what it is.
But I love taking people because there is something just like when you're a little boy, like, I can tell you so many times on people's desks, what do they have? They have a picture of them with their dad fishing.
A big fish.
Yep.
It's just. It's just a memory that you can never forget. And I don't know what there is about it for me, but it reminds me of my dad growing up. You know, my dad was a high school football coach for 33 years. And in the summertimes, we had a horse ranch and a cattle ranch. We'd go feed the horses, then we'd go out fishing. So for me, it's like. It's a skill that I have. And I love to, like, teach people that stuff they've never done. Never be boring. Never be predictable. That way, you'll always be memorable. And I literally was just on a call, just right before I came here with a really famous actress and her husband. I took them fly fishing, and now we're, like, best friends. And she's got a new book that she's launching. She called me so excited about it. They're coming back so it's just like, you create those memories and you can have friends for life. So for me, I actually love taking people out to nature. Better than going to lunch, going to dinner. Takes me two hours to go catch a fish, get back in the truck, and literally have an experience that is world class. And so I think for me, it's like, I've really studied a book called the Experience Economy by Joseph Pyne. And it's like, you know, if they like you, they'll listen to you. If they trust you, they'll buy from you. If they have an experience with you, they'll never, ever leave you. But if you transform and change their life, then they'll be a disciple of yours and shout your name from the rooftop from. From wherever. That's what I. That's the way I try to. Try to live my life.
It's funny, I had a mentor tell me, he's like, you can take me Bridgers, you can take me to lunch 15 times in the next month, or you can take me heliskiing once, and we'll be better friends after hella skiing than we are going to lunch 15 times this month. To exactly your point, which I think is so cool. It's a different topic here. I want to hear about when you decided to put your face out there.
Yeah.
I think it's an interesting moment in a lot of people's lives. And I had. I had a moment like this where I was like, it is so scary to go on live or make a video of yourself, be on a podcast or write a book that you're like, I'm gonna try to make this book amazing. It's a lot easier to just stay in your shell and stay in your lane.
Yeah.
It's a way different type of person like you that have gone out and said, you know, I'm actually. I'm gonna build big businesses, but also put my face on those businesses as well. What was that moment for you that. That switched of. I'm gonna brand myself. I'm gonna be online. I'm gonna be a figure.
I don't really see myself as a figure yet, but I think it's really important for me, it's. I want to share goodness. For me, as long as I can be truthful and honest and really share the things that make an impact in people's lives, that's what I want to do. I just made a decision that I'm going to share things that matter to me. And what I do is I will study or I'll Read and I'll be like, man, that impacted me. That's what I share.
Yeah.
And that's. That's really. It was a really good mentor of mine. I mean, Brendan Burchard's a good friend of mine and I see him, what he's done and on with his life. He is such a prolific content. I mean he does so much great content.
Yeah.
As I was like, I wanted to share with people things that would help lift and build them up higher. Like our family model is me lift the. And the lift me and we'll ascend together was like if I can help other people. That's what I want to leave my life and my legacy as I want to be a good dad, a good father, a good husband, a good business leader and make a difference. And so the things that I share are the things that make me feel good, the things that like I feel that are made an impact for me and I just share. It's almost like a little journal for me now.
Yeah, it's cool. Document the journey. There's a few things I want to unpack there. It's funny, Brendan, we already brought up.
Yeah.
I actually. I aspire to be a speaker on stage and stuff like that. And we throw events now.
Yeah.
I went through his world's greatest speaker training. Actually I got it from a friend. This is years ago because I was like, I want to be a speaker. And I literally. I think I've. I don't know if that's whatever I logged into his. With his logins. I probably should go pay. I said I should send. I should go buy all Brendan stuff because it changed my life. That course I went through, he did a whole. People haven't seen it. It's a three day event they did live and they recorded it about how to be a speaker, how to speak, how to tonality, how to use body language. And it's absolutely changed my life as a speaker on stage. And Brendan is a guy that's. I just, I think has done a phenomenal job of. Of helping put people out there. And one thing that I don't know if it was in that course or somebody else said, but a lot of people get nervous to speak.
Yeah.
Until they do exactly what you said. Until they say in their brain. I'm not. I'm not speaking for me. I'm speaking to serve this audience. What can I share? What goodness can I share? What can I help? There's going to be someone in that crowd that I'm hopefully going to touch and change their heart or their life, or change their family. And all of a sudden speaking becomes really not so scary. It becomes a. You're doing a service and you're helping and giving and contributing and it's really fun and I love that.
Well, I, and I also think for me is, it's like I, I want to share goodness. But you're exactly right. And a really good friend of mine, Ethan Willis, you know, kind of is the same way. He, he, I mean, you may not have heard his name, but he's such impactful and powerful speaker. An amazing man, amazing business leader. I mean, when he speaks, he commands the room. But he's not really selling anything. Like I'm not, I'm not really selling anything either. You know, like when I speak, it's to drive. I mean, I want to lift mankind. I want to change people's minds, be like, I can do more, I can be more. You know, I, we, we started a company that was really in the personal development space and I was working with Zig Ziglar and Dennis Waitley and like all of the greats back in the day. And now, now we're working with all the greats now.
Yeah.
So it's like, it's, it's. What, what is your message? And I think it's important for people to know is that if, if you can make an impact and you can build a platform, whatever that may be, if you are selling something awesome, but even if you're not selling something, if people don't know you, they don't know where to find you either, you know, so, so for me it was more like if I'm gonna be honest and true, I wanna, I wanna lift and build people up to be, be better. But at the same time I have to be, you have to be careful. Cause now I have more opportunities than I know what to do with. So you just have to be really, really selective with where you spend your time, what you do, who you, you do things with. It's really important.
Walk us through your thoughts on spiritual things, God, how that affects your family, everything. I'd love to hear your take on spiritual things and spiritual things within business. Some people think money's the root of all evil.
Right.
I shouldn't make money if I'm a spiritual, God fearing person and they kind of conflict each other. What's your thoughts on money and spiritual things in God? Being a man of faith, I think.
That, I think that, you know, definitely God wants us to succeed in all aspects of our life. I think the most Important thing for me, and as I talk with people that it's all individual for every single one of us. And you have to find out what your Polaris point is. And we wrote a book called Prosper and I did a ton of research on what prosperity means and what prosperity means and what our research was is, you know, finding that it's a balance between money, happiness and sustainability.
Interesting.
And so for me it's like, are you living a prosperous life? Are you making the kind of income that you need to make and is it aligned with what drives you and makes you happy and is it sustainable? Can you do it over the long term? Is it good for others? Is it good for the, you know, world?
Interesting.
So if you don't have those, that's a three legged stool, bro. I promise you, like, because if you're not making the kind of money that you want to, it's literally hard to live in a spiritual state. Clayton Christensen's a really. I mean, I've read all his stuff, all those books he wrote about the paradox. And basically it's hard to have that full spiritual aspect if you can't learn be self sufficient and you're in a scarcity mode. You're in a scarcity mode. You're fighting all the time. You can't. It's hard to leave your life. You know, my dad would always say, dude, if you don't have your own goals, someone else will use you for theirs.
Yeah.
And so if you learn how to make an income and it's balanced with what you love and you can do it over long periods of time, then that's where you get in that healthy state, you know, And I've been fortunate in life. Like, I'm not stressed about finances, I'm not stressed about those kind of things. I can only eat so many meals. I can only wear one, one pair of pants. I'm not, I don't have a ton of worldly possessions, but I have a lot of riches. And for me, like people and experiences for me are way more valuable than a Ferrari or a boat or three homes. I actually kind of like keep it more simple and impact lives and I'd rather do charities and other things. And so. But for some people, like having a freaking awesome car is great and actually that's good for them if that's what drives them and makes them happy. But as long as you're doing those things that make an impact in the world, that's how I think on the spiritual side, are we aligned with what God created? Us to do.
Interesting.
Are we really living up to the full measure of our creation? And are we conscious that the people we're surrounding ourselves with is where we should be? That's where my true joy and happiness comes. I'm working with my best friends and a lot of people say, like man, never know work, never work with your family or friends. Bridger. I only work with my best friends and I only hire on people that I want to spend time with that work with me.
Yeah.
That's like a critical piece of my success and prosperity.
I love that. So go back a little bit. You mentioned that the three legged stool happiness right there. You attribute happiness to growing and giving, right?
Oh, 100%.
That's what drives true happiness.
Happiness is progress. Happiness is progress. Happiness is growing. Happiness is stretching. Happiness is the war. Happiness is the battle. As long there's nothing more frustrating working as hard as you can in the wrong direction. That's why I'm saying, like, know your Polaris point, know what direction you need to be going, and then work so hard to get it and get rid of everything else.
Hmm.
It's interesting. I, me and my wife talking about this two days ago, but a lot of people we see currently looking for happiness in places where they can't find it.
Yeah.
And where they're never gonna find it. And they're, they're running a thousand miles in the wrong direction.
Yeah.
And it's a sad state of affairs to see people in and they, oh, now they're over leveraged. We're seeing the economy turn and people that are, were over leveraged starting to get fleshed out and it even compounds the downside. And you come back to hear a podcast like this, you talking about what's true happiness? Where's my true center? Where's my true north? And you go, wow, Randy's a guy of true wealth. He's got six kids, a beautiful wife and family. That guy's a guy of true wealth.
Yeah.
You know, I love that from a market's point of view. So I know you're in the markets.
You have.
We haven't even talked finance on this call at all. But curious. Your crystal ball people, I'm sure you run a bunch of funds and you're advised a bunch of big family offices. You work a lot in this game of money.
Yeah.
What is the next 12 months, 18 months look like from Randy Garn's perspective?
You know, I think, I think the next, I think the next 12 months are going to be some of the most interesting Months we've ever seen.
Interesting. How so?
Like with what happened with Silicon Valley bank, you know, who would ever predicted that and then how the government responded to it as well. So I don't think we've ever seen a climate like this. And I think that you have to be super wise. I think we're going to be fine. But I think now you have to be super, super wise with where you're investing, who you're listening to, where you're spending your money. For me, again, it comes down to people. I invest in the right people, I spend time with the right people. Who's managing your money? Are they the right people that are like doing that? So now more than ever, it's like competency and really, really surrounding yourself with wicked, wicked smart people. Like, if you want a really amazing book to read, I've read it three times. Is the Changing World Order by Ray Daniel.
Great book.
Yep.
He's almost predicted like everything. So I listen to, I listen to Ray a lot. I mean there's several other people that, that I, that I listen to that help me understand, like cycles. We're just going through cycles. There's been a, there's been a hundred depression, I mean there's been a hundred recessions and a hundred recoveries, you know what I'm saying? So. And you don't lose if you don't sell. So you just, you have to be, you just have to be super wise. And again, be careful not to get too fearful. But be wicked, wicked smart. Right now you got to be smarter than ever and you got to listen to the right people.
Yeah.
You've brought up people a number of times. I want to ask you this question a ton and I want to hear from you because you've done a lot of business, a lot of different people.
Yeah.
How do you snuff out question just for me.
Yeah.
How do you snuff out a business partner that's going to be really good or really bad? What's your approach if someone come to you, Randy? Let's do business together.
Yeah.
How do you do due diligence on potential partners that you're going to partner with?
Track record then? Not that that's probably one of the best.
How do you dig into tracker like, I mean you can go on LinkedIn. Are you calling former business partners?
You have to.
Yeah.
I mean trust but verify.
Yep.
Always, you know, take them out fishing, take him out golfing, you know, see how they, they really act, spend some good time with them. The most important thing for me Is like their principles. Are they principle led?
Interesting.
And there's been, there's only been, there's been a couple times in my life where I've made a bad decision which failure is really good if you learn from it. And I did business with somebody that. Where their ego and self economic interests were over their principles and and their love for people. And so I always, I have a formula that is P squared over the E squared. That their principles have to be bigger and greater than their ego and self economic interests.
Interesting, huh?
Because if their ego and self economic interests are over their principles then it's easy for them to justify stuff to.
Steal money, embezzle, whatever.
Steal money, embezzle or just take advantage of other people. And I watched that happen and not that. And he didn't do it to me, but I watched him do it to other people. I was just like dude, I can't be a part of that. So I think that you have to. I mean and this is the thing, like you're still young. Now that I'm a little older. I like, I'm super, super, super, super careful with who I do business with and who I work with. And I'm only going to work with the elite and the best of the best. And I'm going to keep it super quiet and I'm going to be careful about it and I'm going to protect those that I do work with. But integrity, principles, trust, trust and love are the same. That's got to be a two way street. So I think those are so important because it's easy to make a lot of money, but it's also easy to make a lot of money and then all of a sudden end up in litigation and everything else and be miserable and be like. And be ang at a business partner for years and years and years. Don't fall down that trap. Ensure that whoever you do business with, you love like and respect each other and that you have complete impeccable trust and that you're all doing the best that you can.
Wow.
What a sermon right there. That's amazing. I'm grateful that I've had pretty so far, incredible business partners.
Yeah.
And I keep hearing. That's why I actually love this question. Because I keep hearing horror stories from other businesses. I'm like, man, I'm so, at least so far I've been just. I've got Dan Young and Mason Brain. You'll meet him out here. Incredible business partners.
Yeah.
Which I'm just crossing my fingers that we'll just keep the Tracker going well.
And you've got your dad, too, who is amazing mentor. Yeah, he's the best.
Yep.
A couple last questions for you. I know we'll get you out of here, but this is just. I just love asking you. Best deal you've ever done and worsted you've ever done.
Say that one more time.
Best deal you've ever done and worst deal you've ever done.
Oh, man. The best deal I've ever done is the one I just did.
Oh, yeah.
Let's hear about it if you can.
And it's, you know, it's just. It's an amazing, amazing partnership that I'm working on right now. And you'll hear about it coming out. There's going to be some really explosive stuff happening here in Utah. And honestly, I think my whole career has kind of led up to where I'm at right now.
Cool.
And with everything that I've done that you can articulate, all the human performance and partnerships and relationship capital that I built up over the years has just manifested themselves this last week. The worst deal that I ever did is that we went public back when I was growing my business and we went public with some people that were more corporate raiders. It was almost like a reverse merger. We're crushing up business. We're doing everything. And we actually ended up. And this was the best learning lesson of my life. And a lot of good things came out of it, but it was three years of just pure craziness while our business was exploding and growing. But we ended up going public and ended up having to buy that whole company back because it was with some people that were. That didn't have integrity. That was the worst deal I've ever done because I let. Because I believed in other people. I'm like, oh, man, these guys are so smart. They're prominent a sex amount of millions of dollars. We're gonna have tons of marketing and leads. Like, they have all the competencies that we need as a business to grow. Ended up being completely. They saw young guys that were crushing it and doing it. And I even remember myself, I'm like, man, this just seems too good to be true. We never ended up getting our money.
They ended up really. They never got paid out on any of them?
No, no. I mean, it was just amazing. So we ended up buying the company back.
Oh, my gosh.
But it was a good learning lesson. It was the most expensive learning lesson I've ever had. So again, you look at those things, that was a bad business deal. But was it But I learned so much from it that I never want to put my trust in other people's faith, and I always want to in the driver's seat. So I really learned a lot from that. If that wouldn't have happened, then we wouldn't have got really good at the lead generation. I wouldn't have met the people that are in my life now. I wouldn't have had that experience so that I could mentor other people. Never to go down that route. Make sure you trust, but verify your documents. Make sure you know exactly what you're getting into. Listen to your Spidey senses that, man, you don't feel good about this deal, but it is going to make you a lot of money in the long run. It didn't. Right. It actually. But I just got my mba. I got a major bank account the other way, you know, so. So you just. So that was a really bad business deal that, again, we fought through. And it made me a better person because of it.
Yeah.
And I'll never make that a mistake again. And I'll never let people that I've worked with on their advisory board or friends, like, make that same mistake.
Yeah.
So interesting. Just follow up on that. How would you have structured it differently? Was the documents. Did they not allow you to have your shares that would go public? Like, was it just. Was it on a legal side of things or was it true integrity was legal. Just the legal side wasn't done the right way.
Yeah, well, they were not. They were not honest. And so it just took some time. So what they said, what they were going to do didn't happen.
Didn't happen.
Okay.
Didn't line up with the documents. Gotcha.
So we were able to verify that and be like you guys. But. But again, I. You never. I mean, I always say, like, attorneys are, you know, it's like in Idaho, I grew up in Idaho. It's like two farmers fighting over a cow and the attorneys milking it the whole way. I mean, that's like most of those revenues all went to legal stuff instead of like growing a real business. And if they would have just been like, man, we have some amazing, like, young men here that are crushing it in life and business and have integrity instead of. They wanted to just overtake the business. And so you just have to. You have to be super, super wise with who you work with, who's strategic, what capital do you take? All money's not the same color. And so you have to just. You have to. You have to really understand that when, especially as you're, like, either taking money or, you know, investing in other people. Like, you just have to make sure that you do it completely right and that you get everything in writing as well. That's well documented. And even if you do just know that, that you also. If they're not integris, then it's not going to end up well.
Yep.
So interesting. Very interesting. Okay, final two questions.
Yeah.
What's the best way to people to follow you or find you online or connect with you? What's the best way?
You can just go to randy. Randygarn.com you can find me there or, you know, however, I'm on Instagram, so.
Randygarn.Com or finding Instagram, you put out a lot of great stuff. I love. I love following your stuff around. Okay, final question. We'll get you out of here. If this was your final podcast or show you've ever gonna do, you're gonna die tomorrow and you wanted to leave the world with a last word. So one of my favorite things throughout, like scripture, old things that I read is the dying testimonies of, like, ancient prophets or figures, like, what was the last thing they shared on their death? I think it's so interesting to hear. So, Randy, if you knew you were gonna die tomorrow, it's your last show that you can share and you can share politics, family, religion, science, whatever you want to share would be most valuable to you. What would that be?
You know, I think for me is that I wanted to. I would want to be known as a servant leader. I would want to be known that because of my life, other people's lives were better and blessed. And so I'm trying to do my best to live my life that way and that people are always more important than things.
I love it.
Randy Garn, everybody. Thank you for coming on today.
Thanks, buddy.
It's amazing.
Appreciate it.
Richard, go follow. Go to randygarden.com Go check him out. You guys are amazing. Randy, thank you again.
Thanks, buddy. Appreciate it.
