Ep.16 | Ft. Marlon Gordon

I always try to surprise start it.

He does it, and it works very well. So. Hey, guys, welcome back to the Lead Fast podcast. I'm Daniel. We're joined with our fearless leader, Tommy and Marlon Gordon, and this is gonna be a special one. Tommy and Marlon have known each other for a little while, and this is going to be interesting to see the dynamic between the two. Tommy, tell us a little bit about Marlon, please, sir.

Well, so I'm going to let Marlon tell the story, so I won't give too much of it away, but. So I've known Marlon for a while now, so Marlon, you know, actually worked with me on our second startup. So on this. On the. On the mill viewer project, Marlon came in and was pretty crucial to our success. And always say. And we have always said, even here, like. Like, Marlon never worked for me. He worked with me. We both worked for Millviewer, but he worked with me. And so, yeah, so Marlon's now doing his own thing. We'll catch up and we'll hear a little bit about that and some of the stuff. So. But Marlon was really one of the very first people that did leadfast. And so when I was sort of just coming up with this idea and this concept of wanting to coach people, Marlon came to me and was like, hey, I'm thinking about making this big life move. And Marlon was still working with our company, but, you know, we always had this sort of culture where everybody could talk to me about anything without fear of anything. So Marlon came, was like, how do you think this is going to get perceived? What do you think? So I gave him some advice, and he ended up launching his own company that's doing really, really well. And so super, like, he came in the other day, and I was like, you've got to come on the podc. He was just catching me up with all the stuff they're doing.

But, like, you cornered him. You got him.

I did. And I'll say it. I'm gonna. I'm just gonna. You're gonna hear me say it today a million times. And so I'm gonna say it to his face, but could not be more proud of the work Marlin's doing.

That's awesome.

Freaking crushing it. So, yeah, yeah. So we're gonna. We'll get. We're gonna give Marlon a yellow card. We've already, like, determined that we're gonna make him cry today and shuffled him. So he shuffled them, but. So we'll see. We'll see. We'll see.

In Casey, Marlin snuck in here last night and put his card at the top.

I might have. You never know.

No, no, no. Okay. So, I mean, we have some questions before we get started with the card. We might even say the card for the very end. But how did you. How did you two guys meet? I know you worked at Millview, but.

You want to take that one?

Yeah, I got it. I mean, I feel like I've known you for a long time now.

Almost a decade.

Almost a decade.

Really? That's real.

Yeah, real talk. Real talk. Almost a decade. So I was the IT Program manager for a food service apartment in Pasco County, Florida.

O.

And so lots of people don't know what that means. He was the lunchroom nerd. All right.

That was me.

So Marlon was responsible for making sure all the. IT ran for the food service program, the lunchroom program at a very large school district in Florida. And I was trying to sell software to a very large school district, and.

He was trying super hard to sell it to you. To sell it to me.

Oh, okay.

Yeah.

So we actually met at a trade show. It was Daytona. Yeah, Daytona.

And we're not going to talk a lot about that.

No, let's talk about Daytona.

I want to know. I'm just kidding. So, okay, so Marlon and I met at a trade show in Daytona, and Marlon and I instantly hit it off. Like, we're just the same. Like, we loved, like, the same people. And Millviewer was known sort of in our industry for being the fun time company. Like, we always had the most fun. We threw great parties.

The best parties.

The best parties. I mean, there's one other company that sort of, like, perennially throws one big, giant party, and they're awesome. And we love Super Bakery. That's. Hey, what's going on? And so they're great, but every state show, we threw all these great parties. And Marlon loves to dance. He loves to be at a party. I'm really, by the way, shocked that you're not wearing a bow tie right now.

See, what it was actually, the first time I saw you, I was like, this is gonna be my guy. Because you had a bow tie on. We were both rocking a bow tie.

Oh, man.

Yeah. But, yeah, so it was in Daytona, like, nine years ago, I think. And we just. It was an instant connection. I don't know if it's like, energy's meeting or whatever it was, but just like that, right? I was like, this is the guy. And I instantly saw the leadership and mentorship possibilities with him. And I was like, I got to do Whatever I got to do to follow this guy and learn so I can grow to be like him.

Yeah, that's. That's what I call it.

Plus, we had an open bar that night.

That helps a little bit.

And vip.

No, I call that the Tommy effect. He definitely has a great, like, energy, you know, Like, I don't really know anybody that has your energy. You wear me out. Like, I have to. It's hard to keep up with what you do. But that. So you guys met. It's been 10 years. And so how did the work relationship start? You know, like, how did you go from where you're at to working with Tommy?

Well, first I bought his product. His product. And then shortly after, he stole me from my district.

Okay, wait, wait. Let's correct the record, because I don't want anyone to be mad. I didn't see steal Marlon. Marlon and I were having a casual conversation on the phone one day, and he goes, listen, man, I just gotta tell you, if there's any way for me to come work for you, I'm down anytime you need it. Like, I just want to be around, like, what you're doing now. Marlon lived in Florida. We're based in South Carolina. And I was like, I don't know, man. We don't have any remote people. And he was like, no, I'll move. And like, literally 90 days later, he was living with his family and kids in South Carolina. And I was like, well, I guess I gotta hire him now.

I have to give a shout out to my old director, Julie Hadeen, because.

Incredible Julie's so cool.

I went to her and it was a pretty important time for us because they were getting ready to switch over software. So we just bought meal Viewer, we bought point of sale software, back of house software, which is like inventory management and menu calculations, like all that stuff. So it's a big deal for us. We had to train like 800 employees. And at the same time, I'm trying to chase my dream. So I walk into her office, I close the door, and I sit down. She's like, oh, no, Marlon. What now?

Yeah, the. The closed door is never a good. By the way, if you're a leader, the closed door, never a good sign. If you ever. If you ever come into my office and I say, hey, can you do me a favor? Shut the door. Oh, boy. It's. It's either going to be fantastic or it's gonna be life altering one way or the other. It's gonna be a great news or horrible news. No options.

It Was definitely life altering because she, like, she has been one of the most influential people in my life because she allowed me to grow into the person that I am today, and she loved me, so she let me go. She was fully supportive, has been supportive of me the entire time I've been doing my own thing. She's absolutely amazing. And if she didn't allow me to go, I'd probably still be at Pasco today. Because I was loyal to her. I'm a very loyal person, and I didn't want to abandon her, and I felt like I was somewhat abandoning her, but she was like, hey. She's like, I know Tommy. I know you. He's the perfect mentor for you, for you at this time in your life. And I feel like you need to.

So did you. You sat down and explained to her, basically, hey, I'm pursuing my dream. Is that what it was? Did you know. Did you have, like, the end goal in mind, or did you just kind of know that, hey, there's something different that I kind of want to pursue. Like, I feel like I'm supposed to.

Be over here, but I never knew what my end goal was until probably turned 33. Yeah.

Six years later.

Yeah, it was a lot later.

That's important. I think a lot of people, they don't make the change to follow a dream until they know what that is. And sometimes it's not about the destination, sometimes about the journey, the process.

You know, in one of the. In the. I think the last podcast episode, we talked about the fact that a great leader, if you're going to be a great leader, if you're going to empower people and give them opportunity, when you get. There's a. There's a certain level that your organization gets to where you don't have opportunities for people anymore. That gets limited. And the best thing that a great leader can do is turn people loose, because you really have to. And Julie's a great leader. Like, she's just phenomenal. And that was a pivotal moment because she could have fought for Marlon. She could have said, you know, no, our organization needs your skill set. And even though you're not a place where you feel fulfilled, I still need you to stay here. And she could have fought. She could have sweetened the deal or whatever, like, she could have. But what she wanted more than anything was for her people to be fulfilled. And so she let Marlon go. And I think we didn't know what to do with him. You know, we knew he was going to do sales. We knew he was Connected, like he was well respected in their industry and, and could speak from our customers point of view. And so we knew he was going to do sales, we knew he would do well just because of how we operated, that he was going to be personable and fun and all. But the 10 out of 10 exceeded expectations on everything and so just could not be. That was a great move. But beyond that, like, we were friends before he came to work for us and. But he was like, he became family so fast and like, you know, we had a family environment. My mom and dad both worked for us and Daniel and everybody else. And so, yeah, he sort of got just adopted in immediately.

Yeah, that's one thing I love about the culture of meal viewer is it's family. It's all about family. And I was so easy for me to just go there and feel like family. Like in the first day, I was like, oh, this is my brother Tommy.

Yeah, that's how we feel here. I mean, that definitely follows you around. I want to ask a question that I think a lot of people probably want to know, especially since you've done this, man. You started, you know, here, you saw, you wanted to be here, you took steps. How scary was it? How scary was that?

Honestly, it wasn't scary at all, really. Not the slightest. I am very faithful and I feel like I've been very blessed. And if God has a plan for me, like, what's the point of being fearful? I mean, if this is what he wants me to do, nothing's going to get in my way. I'm just going to go and do it and I'll be fine.

That confidence is awesome, man, because I.

Think that's one thing Marlon doesn't lack.

Some things, I do some things, and.

That'S what I want to highlight because there's so many people, I think probably everybody who would listen to this podcast is looking for something bigger, whether they're in the process of doing that or they know they need to do that, like write a book, start up a business, whatever it is. And it can be scary. It can be very scary to look at what all goes into that, to look at the process and even to just take the first step to start that, it can be scary. It can be horrifying. And I think that's why I'm trying to highlight these things, because people need to know where your confidence is at when you do that. Now I know everybody's story is different. Some people may not be as confident as others, but I think that's a really Good. Key takeaway from that is just. You had a high confidence level, and it paid off, you know, like.

Yeah, well, it wasn't confidence in me. It's confidence and above. And I never knew what I was supposed to do. I think I was supposed to do something. And I kept on putting myself in positions to grow, and Tommy provided one of those opportunities to grow, and I was able to.

Man, what. That's such a key takeaway that, like, I don't know what I'm supposed to do, but I. Like, we always talk here about farming and about how, like, the far. The expectation. The fruit is the expectation of good farming. It's not. You can't force fruit, you know, and how Marlin's. What he's saying is like, I knew I was seed, but I put myself in the right environments. I always. I was always looking for better dirt. Such a good analogy. And you can do that, like, as if you. If you feel like there's something bigger on the inside of you, that's an indication that you're just seed. Because if you were fruit, you'd be at the end of your day. Right? But if you feel like there's something bigger on the inside of you, then that's like the inside of you saying you're just seed. And if you can find the right dirt, then you can progress. And Marlon was really proactive in finding the right dirt. And then in the areas that I saw Marlon become frustrated was when he was. It was very obvious he was in the wrong dirt. And so. But.

But that's.

I mean, like, literally, like, when. When you. We talk about the fact that good organizations lose great people because there's a lack of opportunity, there's a lack of understanding, there's a lack of empowerment. And when that happened, when we made some transitions and Marlon got put in and not. And by the way, wrong dirt's not the same thing as saying bad dirt, because some things grow in certain environments, right? So cactuses grow in sand and peaches won't. So that's a difference. Right. And so it was the wrong dirt for Marlin. It wasn't necessarily bad dirt, because those people I love are going to listen to this and say, he called me bad dirt. That's not. It's not what I'm saying. I love all you guys, but for Marlon, it was the wrong dirt. Right? It was the wrong dirt. And I have an uncanny ability. I've been in the same dirt. I have an uncanny ability of growing different seeds. And so I just decided, oh, I'M gonna grow the thing that'll grow here, and then I'll figure out what to grow later. But Marlon is so, like, laser focused on becoming a better leader, and he needed to be in dirt that grew that. So he came to me one day and he goes, hey, I want to talk to you. And he came in privately, shut the door, and I knew something was up. Same conversation he had with Jul, and he just basically said, hey, I've got this opportunity. I'm thinking about starting my own business. Here are the people I'm going to be starting it with. And they were phenomenal people. And so I was like, man, you got a real shot at it, and you got a great idea. Here are the things. And I just basically took Marlon through the lead FAST program and was like, here are the five things you got to look for. This is how you structure the business. These are all the things. And then. And he was like, all right. And then, like, literally 30 days later, he's like, yeah, we got our first customer. I was like, how in the hell? So, yeah, so I. Marlon will always have a place at anything I'm doing because he's such a phenomenal leader, so we'll find a spot for him. But he's doing his own thing now.

What did that look like for you when you. When you started leaf fast? Wasn't a thing at the time. This was just in your head, right?

It was. It was. It was a infant.

Infant, very infant leaf fast infant stages. So when Tommy, like, kind of walked you through that, you know, and you started doing that, how, like, what was the process like? Was it. Was it slow to start? I mean, did you. When did you feel like, okay, this is getting some momentum, okay? And then you snagged a customer. Like, I can't really say.

It was slow to start. It almost happened instantaneously. It's like, once I put it out there, once I made it an actual thing, it just started flowing. Like, it just started happening. So it's. It's. I don't think that what happened with me is the norm. I'm a little bit abnormal, as you guys probably know. But, yeah, so I was blessed with the ability to have a lot of relationships in K12. So whenever I wanted to step out and I wanted to consult on my own, do my own thing, like, I had a customer list already that I was able to pretty much build during my time at Pasco and during my time working with Meal Veer and so on. So once people knew that I was able to go Freelance and start doing my own thing. They wanted to get involved with me.

And let's explain what it is you do, because we haven't covered that yet. So you co founded Next Gen Innovators, which is a company that helps an industry that was 40 years behind. Like, the school. School food industry is still, you know, ladling out sloppy joe a little bit. You know, like, they're still like this. The same food that you had, the same. Sorry. The same production methods that you had, the food has gotten incredibly better. Huge improvement in the food. But you went to an industry that desperately needed innovation and started providing new methodologies. And so talk a little bit about that, because we may have someone watching this. That is in school food. And I want you to at least be able to tell what you do.

Yeah. So I love to serve. I love being innovative. Right. I'm a people, please. So my very first day on the job with Tommy. I'm sorry. My very first demo that I went on was at a school district in Tennessee. It was like a little trailer in the middle of nowhere, right? So I come from a big district. We had like 80 plus sites, and here I'm going to this district. It's like four sites, meaning four schools. And there was a food service director, and she had a secretary that he shared with another department. So we just got to talking, and she mentioned to me how she wanted to do more innovative things. Didn't have the bandwidth to do it because it was just her, and she ran three departments. I'm like, wow. I didn't know it was like this. It was almost culture shock for me, coming from a big district where we had a director, assistant director, team development, program manager, finance. All these different departments with multiple people on each team. I had a team of four.

So your team was bigger than her whole district?

My team was bigger than her district office. Yeah. But. But day after day, I kept seeing the same thing over and over and over again. I'm like, oh, man, how can I help them? What can I do to serve, to help them feed more children, essentially? And I was like, you know what? It's got to the point where I need to start my own company and I need to start consulting and helping people. So one thing I learned about myself is I don't know everything, and I don't want to pretend to know everything, but I know a lot of really smart people that know a lot of different things. I know a lot of experts, so I got resources. So my current business partner, Amanda, she likes to say I assembled The Avengers. So. So I just brought together a superhero squad, and we just serve. And that's what we do. Whether it's retired directors, whether it's current food service employees, different companies, manufacturers. Like, we all have the same goal in mind, and that's to help feed children. That's what we do.

Wow.

And it's one of those things, too, where if you know Marlon, you know that the people connected to him are quality people because he doesn't hang out with garbage folks. And so when you start looking at the people he's collected, the brands that they represent, all that stuff, then you go, so that's a good brand. And you can. You immediately build credibility as a brand if you're working with Marlon because he has so much trust in the industry, but it's just not trust that he, like, was given. He earned it. Like, he really knows what he's talking about. But that's such a great, like, point for business owners. Like, God, he went out into a market that was. It's very niche. Like, you know, it's very small. Like, you've got, at the max, a hundred thousand customers. If you owned a hundred percent of the market, there's only 100,000 schools. And that seems like a lot, you know, a lot of people. Like, man, if I had a hundred thousand customers. But if you're looking at, like, scale, you're trying to be Facebook or anybody, they want hundreds of millions of customers, you know, like, that kind of thing. And so. But there's a very niche market, and then there's a smaller percentage of that market that's little and needs innovation and wants help. And then there's a smaller percentage of that market still that has budget. And then there's a smaller. So. But. But if you find a place where you can be dominant and provide overwhelming value as a business, you win. You win every day. And. And if your goals are to grow a business that serves people, we, you know, we talk about that attraction is value and relevance. Well, obviously, the relevance factor was handled because Marlon was updating their systems, their methodologies, and helping them communicate with students better and all these other things. They were so irrelevant that any improvement was an improvement, a huge improvement. But the value. You know, it really is the value that he brings, the value that he gives, and the value that he leaves. And so when Marlon comes in, this is just a great example for everybody. But he gives value. So he's willing to just give away ideas and give away access to people and broker his relationships to. To put people in touch with each other. So he gives away a ton of value, right? But then he also brings a ton of value because he does know so much. And his company, you know, like, he has this thing called first taste tv. I'll let you talk about it. But, like, first taste TV gives a opportunity for brands to interact with, you know, cafeteria programs all over the nation. Even now, when, like, they're not doing food shows because of COVID and all the other things. Like, this is one of the very, very few, if not if only outlet that you can be in front of lots of food service providers. So he brings value. Like, he being connected to him is valuable, but then he always leaves you better and more equipped. And so he's also leaving value, Right, Even when he's not interacting with you, even when he's not connected to you anymore. Or, you know, like, Marlon and I are just back to friends. You know, we're not colleagues anymore. We're not partners in any way. But he still. He's left tremendous value in my life. But, like, every business needs to know that, like, if you're going to be valuable to your customers, you have to approach all three of those things. You have to give away value, you have to bring value, and then you have to leave value, and always in that order. And so if you're a business, a small business owner out there, and you're looking at, like, what can I do to improve my relationships with my customers, my relationships with the people around me? It's really just a matter of focusing on those three things. As a start, am I effectively giving value? Am I bringing value in the relationship, and am I leaving value once it's over? And Marlon does that better than maybe even better than us. I'm not gonna lie. Like, maybe even better than us. We work real hard at it, and he's. We have to work real hard because, honestly, it's not natural for me. So I try to hire people that it is. But Marlon's already taken. But that's a natural thing for Marlon.

We do.

We do really well, really naturally at other parts of the process, But Marlon really just nails that first thing.

So it sounds like you paid attention to the lead fast. I mean, because that's essentially. That's what.

He watched it. He watched it for eight years. He got to be a part of it.

I think that's. Man. I think that's like, a great testament to the system and how it works, and the fact that it's not, in my opinion, something that I feel like you can hear it or see it, read it, however you decide to digest it. But it's not something that it's a struggle to get these steps going. Like, it is very applicable to real world and any, I mean, niche jobs like. Like that, that you just have to be very specialized in. I think that speaks to that system. That's insane that it kind of worked that well almost instantaneously like that. Mind blowing to me.

Yeah. And I do have to. I don't think I ever told you this, Tommy, but I'm in. It's nothing like that. It's nothing like that. Nothing like that. So my first day in the office, I saw a book on your desk and it was. It's not just who you know. Yeah, yeah. And I don't think I ever told you that. I went ahead and I downloaded it and I read it.

It's a great book.

It's an amazing book. And I think that helped me with my foundation because I always thought I was introverted. I tell people that and like, there's no way you're not introverted. That's impossible. Well, working at Pasco helped me to kind of grow a bit. And I was starting to realize, oh, maybe I'm not right? And then I get to meal viewer and they're all extroverted. Like, you know, look at Tommy. Like, he's an extrovert, right? And then I. 100, 100%. And then I swear I'm not.

We'll talk about that.

Maybe, maybe not in.

I'm a gamer. I'm a game time guy, man.

We're extroverted introverts. But then, because I never really wanted to build relationships and network and meet people. I was just shy. Like, in my head, I was shy. I was all in my head. And I read this book on Tommy's desk and it was like water on the seed, right? And from that point on, I just started growing and growing and growing and realizing how important relationships are. Because in my youth, I used to. I could burn a bridge like nobody else, right? Just explosions. And then I realized that you can't do that. You need to value every single person. Because you never know if you're meant to help them, they're meant to help you, or you're meant to work together on something. And I can't tell you how many times I've come across people where it's just a small meeting. Like, I'm just kind, right? I'm just kind to them. And then six months, a year down the road, we're now working on something huge together.

That's great.

Craziest thing.

It's that. That's the big door swinging on small hinges thing, you know, like that. That. Those. Those moments of connections and relationships build the opportunity, and the opportunity is the big door everybody gets to walk through. But that's all built on the small hinges of relationship and mutual care and respect and all that stuff. So that's cool. I didn't know that story.

Yeah.

By the way, we talk a lot about all the books that we read, but, you know, we always. We're always plugging Rich dad. But, you know, it's not just who you know. It's not just what you know. Sorry. It's not just what you know. It's a great book. Phenomenal book.

Okay, I'm gonna spring a little question on you because I'm curious. What is. What's your favorite Tommy moment that you've had since you've known.

Oh, Lord.

No, it doesn't have to be.

Let's clarify. Let's. What's the favorite Tommy moment you can actually say out loud in public?

My favorite Tommy moment.

It doesn't have to be even business related, just your favorite Tommy moment.

That's a tough one. There have been so many Tommy moments. I guess I can say my favorite Tommy moment was whenever he made me do a breakout session, like a workshop. I had to teach a class at the Illinois conference. And you weren't expecting to do it? I was expecting to do it, but he had something come up, and you know what? Like, I'm his guy, so I need to help him out because he had something sometimes come up, and I was petrified of getting up in front of people and talking.

He also never said that to me.

Petrified.

I was like, oh, he'll crush this. No big deal.

I still hate it to this day. Right. But you know what? I had faith. Knockoffs had faith. So I just. I manned up. I went and did it, and it went well. And I was like, holy cow. Like, Tommy knew I can do this. I may not have seen it, but he saw it. I went and did it, and now I learned that I can do it, and now I'm a co host on a talk show. Craziest thing.

Yeah, it was. I've got some. I've got some good Marlon moments, but we won't. We'll save those for another podcast. I'll go on his podcast.

No, that's what happened with me. I found out I was hosting this podcast the day before the podcast, and I was horrified I'm like. I don't know. I'm usually on the other side of the camera. I don't. I don't want this. But Tommy has a way of springing those things on you, and it's kind of. You know, it works. I don't hate it. Like, I'm not as. Like, the first day I did this, I didn't even want to talk. Like, I'm gonna say something stupid, and now I'm just okay with it.

Now he's just realizing something stupid's okay.

Yeah. Everything I say, stupid. So it's okay.

Yeah.

The bar is very low for me. No, I'm kidding. Well, let's. If you don't have anything else, let's shift.

Yeah, let's do a card, man.

The famous yellow card.

No trees.

I'm gonna shuffle them one more time, and we'll get this top.

Are we all picking the card or just me?

Well, we can share the pain.

Oh, I don't know that. What are three major emotions that you're carrying right now?

Excitement. A little bit nervousness, and I feel very humble to be here.

Oh, man. Yeah. Now I'm going to cry.

Do you want. Do you want to do a. You want to do a yellow card? You want to do a card?

No, I'll do a card. I'm not. I am not scared of cards.

Listen, here's. Here's what I think we did. Drop a yellow card on you so we can do another card on Marlon. Just keep going with other cards if you want to. Just been on time. I'll do a card. Okay, Tom?

I'm not scared of cards, bro. I'm kind of.

Okay, Tommy, here we go.

Oh, my gosh. Okay, here we go.

This is not hard. What don't you have enough time to do, and why?

Everything. I don't have enough time to do everything and anything. There's not, like, all the things that I want to do in a day. I would need the days to be six days long. I just don't have enough time to do anything or everything. But that's also. That's good, though. If I. If I had the time to do everything, I would do nothing. Well, I just. I would. I would do nothing.

Is that because you feel like you would. You need to take breaks from stuff? You need to move?

No, because if I. If it weren't for the constraint of time, I would never prioritize and I would never focus. Like, if I. If I had infinite amounts of time, like, I would just. I would always. I I know that procrastination is such a big part of me. And so I'd be like, oh, I'll do it later. Well, you don't have time to later. I have all the time. I would just. I would just push everything off and I would end up playing Call of duty for 12 hours.

You literally just grab my life.

So.

So let me ask you this. People ask me, ask me this question all the time. Like, how do you find time to do all the different things that you do? Like, do you have a certain flow that you go through every day?

I sleep less than most people. That's a real. That's a real answer.

How often do you sleep?

Five hours a night? Ish. And so if you sleep 10 hours a night or eight hours a night, I just got back 25 to 20% more day than you, end of story. So if I can, if that is how things work. I also am very rarely not thinking about the things to do. And my mind, my mind is usually always on parallel tracks. And so when I'm home eating dinner and hearing about my kids day, I. I can be there in that moment. And in the back of my head, I'm still running like land purchase scenarios and what house to flip next, or if I'm at the property looking at the drywall that just went up, I'm thinking about, you know, the next podcast and what it's got. So I also, not only do I get 25 to 20% more day than most people, I also am usually on parallel paths. And so, but that's what I meant by if I had all the time, I wouldn't do, like, if I knew I could do everything in a day, the facts that I can do parallel paths, I'd be on five and then I would not give enough focus to any. Everything would slow down. Right. It would just, It'd be a compounding effect. People ask me all the time, how do I get so much stuff done? And I just say, I work harder than you.

That's.

At the end of the day, there's no excuse for more reps. Like, more. More reps are the way to go. Like, if you want to, if you want to get better, if you want to be more efficient at selling so that you can get more sales done in a day, then you need more reps. Now, when you're bad at it, it's not about taking less reps and getting more time to learn to be better so that you can make more of your reps. And that's what most People think I'm going to not sell this week. I'm just going to go to a week long sales training. You probably set yourself back 60 days because you could have gotten 150 reps in and learned how to sell and you didn't. You probably set yourself back. Right. And so I always just get more reps in it. Like if I got to get more graphics designed, I'm gonna go sit in Photoshop and I'm gonna figure out a new way to do it. Like, and then I'm gonna share that I'm gonna get better pathways forward. I was before you came in prepping for this interview, working on a project for you and then also giving, showing Daniel a new tool I learned on Photoshop. I was like, hey, come look at this. Da, da, da, da. Okay, cool. Now you know what, you move on. And now he'll be faster. Faster, but like much faster. Yeah, yeah. So, but I was doing four things at the same exact time and eating breakfast, so. So, you know, story about life. Yeah. So I just, I pile, I compile opportunities when I can and I sleep less.

So something I like to tell people is I, I live in tomorrow so you can thrive in today. Right. So do you ever see that being dangerous in a way? Because I'm always like, I'm always 10 years in the future for sure, man. And then luckily I have my Amanda Venezia, my amazing partner. Like, she keeps me grounded.

My Andrew.

Yeah, your Andrew. Yeah, she keeps me grounded. And she's like, okay, that's a great idea, but let's put that in the table for now. We'll come back to it. Let's focus on things that we have to do now to get there. And that's something that I can't do because I'm always in the future all the time, you know.

Yeah, I'm getting better at that as I mature and as Andrew and I work more together, like I just become more like him and he becomes more like me. And so it's, we're getting to be a whole person soon. But you know, we approach things so much differently. And so it's, we talk about it like if the answer is six, he's probably saying three plus three is six. And I'm saying three times two is six. And we're going to argue about it, but the answer is always still six. We're always coming to the same conclusion from different perspectives. It's gotten to the point this, at this time in our relationship as partners, that I'll stop an argument and be like, look, we're probably saying the same thing. Let's. Let's talk about what we're trying to say and not try to explain it to each other. And then that usually solves it. We move on because we just know. It's happened so much.

I've witnessed this.

It's happened so much that it's like, oh, wait, wait, before we get in a fight, like, you're saying what I'm saying. I'm just saying it backwards. I'll take the backwards part of it. That's fine. And we'll just move on. And it usually is me, because I'm. My brain doesn't work in a linear, logical way. So I'm out of the box and I'm thinking of, like, five different ways we can get to this thing. And he's like, oh, no. If you just add three plus three, then you get six, dummy. He never calls me dummy. He's thinking it a lot. I can see it. He won't say it because he's kind, but I know he's thinking it. But anyway, so to your point, though, I just think that, like, that whole ability to, like, live in the future so that people can thrive today is such a. It is such a you thing. I find. I have found that that was a skill for me. And then when I started being able to connect to people in the now and, like, facilitate the thriving, that was even more. That was more of a thrill for me than the living in the. Like, I can. Anybody can stand in the middle of the room and point like, you know, there's managers, you've worked for them that don't actually do anything, but they stand in the middle of the room and point at everybody else's stuff.

I don't know what you're talking about.

I have no idea.

But y' all are probably thinking the same person, aren't you?

I guarantee you. Sorry. Anyways, guy's an asshole. I'll put it on record. I'll say his name. I don't care. So. But it takes a special person to not only, like, stand in the middle of the room because he lives in the future and point and go, this is where we need to be. This is where we need to be. This is what you should be. Be doing to plug in and actually see someone thrive and be hands on in that and get your hands dirty. Get your hands dirty. Right? And so when I started doing that, like, even with you, like, with lead fast and that your opportunity and me coaching you through that was really motivation for me to do this at a higher level because I was able to say, oh, man, that really did, like, inspire me to do more of it. And so, you know, thanks for that. Thanks for letting me be a voice that, you know, I got something out of that, too.

Well, I wouldn't be here right now if it wasn't for you two, so.

Dang it, who needs me? Real talk, he can make me cry.

It wasn't even a question. It was just a statement.

Yeah. All right. You gotta do a yellow card, and then we'll end on Daniel doing a yellow card.

I thought I weaseled my way out of this.

Nah, nah. Okay. If you could change one thing about yourself besides your beard.

Why would I change my beard?

Who knows? What would it be and why?

Oh, man. I think it would have to be procrastination, because I am a, like, textbook example of a procrastinator. I think that comes with the fact that I'm.

That's the worst thing.

That's. Well, for me, it's the worst thing.

I'm just.

No, no.

I feel like. I feel like you absolutely just was like, yeah, procrastination.

This is.

If you could change one thing, then procrastinate.

The main reason is because I've been thinking about it.

I mean, I'm just saying I got deeper stuff. I mean, I know things about you that I would change.

I can get you.

Besides progressing.

I want to hear them say them. No, no, no.

Don't say them.

Please don't say them. I can get deep. I don't know if everybody wants to get that deep with it, but. No, I. Like, for real. A lot of the problems that I have in almost every aspect of my life comes from the fact that I procrastinate because I feel overwhelmed by something in the moment because I have to give, like, so much attention to what I'm doing now. This is just me. So if I'm working on a project, like a graphics project, and then someone's like, hey, I need this. I need this in my head, I start getting overwhelmed because I'm like, well, I've got to stop this momentum here and go to that. But what happens is I know that I need to finish this, and so I focus on finishing this, and then I forget about these things, and they fall to the ground. And it's not just projects. It's things, you know, like, maybe like to call my mom and wish her a happy birthday. You know, like, sometimes I'm like, oh.

Crap, I forgot mother's Day two years ago.

Oh man, I forgot my wife's birthday once.

See so.

Wow, we suck. Sorry mom.

Sorry. I love you, Ashley.

This is just, we'll just give like a big shout out and hope it, this counts.

This is on a podcast in seven countries. So you know, whatever.

But no, that's, that, that's a big thing for me because procrastination is like a gateway thing for me. It leads to forgetting, it leads to me being like, like more anxious because now the pressure's on and having to work like six times harder to get stuff done that most people don't even work half the time, you know, half the speed that I have to doing on. So procrastinating is a big thing for me.

That's huge. I love that you just said it was a gateway thing.

Yeah.

Because I'm sure that there are, there are small habits that are gate gateways to other like to anxiety and you know, self esteem and all these other things. Because when you procrastinate you feel a lot. When you feel a lot, you feel worse about yourself. Stuff like that. But I wonder it would be a great like thing to do with a group of people to go through a, like a personal inventory of small habits that make big changes. Because like you could change procrastination, you know, you could get tools, that's an easy thing to change. And then look at the like sort of butterfly effect snowball benefits of it where like I feel more confident in myself, I get more wins, I get addicted to winning. So then becomes more, becomes more beneficial to me mentally and emotionally to schedule and all these other things. I don't, when I get there my brain might went no, no, no gateway.

I was like oh.

And that's exactly. I've only recently like maybe in the past like two or three months become self aware of that. And that's why I say procrastination because when I get anxious and then something else happens, not even work related, it just, it affects that and it affects everything that like branches out into like that ends, enters into that anxious state.

We're going to do a completely different podcast. We're going to do a complete like curriculum on that. So let's do it. I think that would be. So like you stay tuned, tell them where they can find that stuff.

You can find that stuff at Lead Fastcoat on Facebook and Instagram and you can also go to leadfastco.com our website and get lots of resources and subscribe to the podcast. Share the podcast right into our social media questions you may have for Tommy and other business people who come on like. Like Marlon, who know their stuff. And we will see you guys next time.

Hey, thanks. Marlon Gordon, First Taste TV.com Next Gen Innovator. If you're in school food at all and you don't know this guy, you absolutely should. Marlon Gordon atnext gen innovators.com.

Got it. And it's an XT, not an EXT.

Yeah. There you go. Awesome. Thanks for coming on, man. Love you, buddy.

Thanks.